The Study of Human Behavior
by bridgie797
Summary: When Gabriella asks for help, Troy is surprised.  What happens when he takes her up on her offer?


"You want me to what?" Troy's voice lifted toward the end.

"Look, it's still the study of human behavior. It's just a different kind. I'll take care of the project for Psychology class and at the end of the semester you'll have an A. And, I'll know what to do if I ever actually find a guy." She nodded her head as though this were nothing more than a business deal.

"So, let me get this straight?"

She nodded.

"I teach you how to kiss. I basically touch you and teach you how to touch me, and then I teach you how to have sex the way I like it. And, you'll do all the homework stuff and get me an A in a class I've barely gotten a B in all year?" Troy's head was spinning. Had the prude of the school really just told him to have his way with her while he got an A for no homework what so ever? This was too fucking good to be true.

She nodded more firmly. She rolled her eyes and decided to make sure he knew she'd over heard his bet. "And, maybe I'll throw in a pair of my panties just so you can prove you got what I'm sure you'll feel the need to tell whoever you made that bet with this week in the boys' room." She blushed, 'damn, stupid embarrassment.' "By the way, you could've at least made me worth a decent wager. I'm not that hideous." She sighed and looked back down at her textbook trying to decide what their project was actually going to be.

He was glad she looked down when she did or she might have seen him blush and begin his nervous habit of rubbing the back of his neck. He let out his own sigh. "You heard that?"

"Yeah." She kept skimming the book to keep from having to look him in the eye.

"Look, I'm sorry. I was just cutting up with the guys and they expect me to say crap like that. It's not that I really—"

"It's no big deal. Do you care what I pick to do the project on?"

Troy tried to see her eyes, but she was jotting down ideas now and he realized she had moved back to school work and there was no way she was going to hear him out. "No, I don't really care. Just let me know what you pick in case Darbus asks me, K?"

She nodded, still looking at her notes and the book.

He waited for a second and then realized she was done talking to him. He ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, well, I guess we should 'meet' later then? You know, to start your lessons?"

She glanced up. "When? Where?"

He felt more embarrassed than he chose to show at the moment. "My place, maybe 5:30. I should be back from practice by then."

"Won't your dad be there too?"

He shrugged, "Trust me, he won't care as long as I kick ass at practice."

She shook her head. "Why don't we do this at my house. My parents are out of town on a business trip for the rest of the week."

Troy's eyebrows rose to his hairline. "Your parents go on week-long business trips and leave you home alone?"

She nodded, "It's just me and my brother, but he's at his friend's house this week anyway."

He half smiled as various possibilities swam through his head. "Great. Well, you're place, to study psych, at like 5:30?"

She nodded. "Great. Thanks for this."

He chuckled, "This is one homework assignment I'm more than happy to complete."

She blushed a little. "Bye."

Troy got up and waved, "See ya."

She got up from the couch as she heard a knock at the door. Getting up from the couch had been a chore though since she had all of her books and research papers spread out between it and the coffee table. She had slipped on stray papers twice and fallen once just trying to get to the door. She had forgotten about their "first lesson", when she became engrossed in her homework and now she found herself standing at her open front door in sweats with a messy bun and her glasses on staring at Troy Bolton, basketball god, looking as hot as ever. "Um..oh god, I totally forgot. I-I was working on—um…"

He smiled easily, "Can I come in?"

She jumped slightly and tried to step back to open the door, but found herself on the floor. "Wow, looks like you have your work cut out for you." She rolled her eyes at herself and stood back up as he walked in and looked around.

He noticed the couch covered in papers and books. It pretty much looked like he expected it. It was a bookworm house. Her parents had the awkward school pictures up and the shelves were lined with every title imaginable. He turned back to her as she closed the door. "So…"

She willed herself to let go of the door handle and speak. "So?"

He realized for the first time that even though she wanted to know about being with a guy, she had no idea what to expect. So, he took the lead. "So, how's the homework going? Looks like you've been busy."

She nodded quietly.

He started to try and smooth into things, but he was a little unclear on how to "teach" this to somebody. He'd always dated girls who knew what to do. "Okay, so basically, we need to find some common ground. When you meet with a guy or he comes over or something, either you or he need to find some kind of common ground to start the conversation with."

She blushed. "I didn't even realize that I needed to learn how to talk first."

He chuckled. "It just makes things easier. Most guys, well any decent guy, isn't going to walk in and toss you against a wall and kiss you passionately."

She smiled awkwardly and blushed harder. "See, in my book that would just make things easier. Trying to find conversation seems to get in the way."

Troy's eyebrows rose for the umpteenth time today. "And, that is exactly what every guy thinks, but most girls would kill us if we tried it."

Gabriella giggled. "No offense, but I obviously don't think like most girls or I wouldn't need these lessons."

Troy felt his shoulders relax a little at he laughed softly at that. "No, you're definitely not most girls."

She walked into the kitchen. "Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Soda? Water?"

Troy smiled and took a see at the stool by the counter. "Coffee works for me."

She nodded and grabbed a mug down and filled it with part of the pot of coffee she'd been drinking with her homework.

Troy glanced around again, "So, do your parents leave you here alone a lot?"

She nodded her head. "They know I'm so caught up in my school work that they don't bother to send me to a friend's house anymore. They used to. My brother still has to go to friends' or relatives because they know he'd get himself into trouble, but they just let me be here alone now."

Troy furrowed his brow. "Is that really safe?"

She laughed, "It's not like we live in a thriller movie. I know how to grocery shop, cook for myself. Plus, I love the quiet. I can have complete peace and quiet to get things done whenever I want this way."

Troy found himself nodding his head and quietly watching her.

She blushed again, "What?"

He shook his head, "Nothing. I was just thinking."

"About what exactly?"

"My parents don't leave me alone for like an hour at a time, much less a week."

She laughed, "That's because you'd have a party and get into trouble. I don't party. I'm trying to get into Stanford."

Troy looked at her as though he were shocked. "Seriously? You're applying to Stanford? I thought only rich kids went there?"

She smiled, "Sometimes they let in us lowly smart kids too." She started to walk back over to the couch.

He reached out and grabbed her arm to stop her, but found them both covered in hot coffee. "Ouch."

Her eyes went to the size of saucers. She was just starting to relax and now she'd managed to spill hot coffee all over Troy Bolton. "Oh My God, I'm so sorry."

Troy closed his eyes and tried to ignore the pain of the heat searing into his legs and abdomen. "Yeah."

She put the mug down and looked at him. "I'll get you some of my dad's shorts. We can put yours in the washer." She walked out of the kitchen into the back bedrooms.

Troy stood there and decided now was as good a time as any to test his new pupil. So, he dropped his pants and boxers, pulled his t-shirt off and slipped his shoes off. When she came back in, he was going to be wearing nothing but his socks. He needed to know just exactly how shy the school sweetheart really was.

Gabriella strolled back into the room and looked up. She stopped in her tracks and stood staring at the naked boy in her kitchen. She was breathing harder than she had been a minute ago and her mouth was dry and she couldn't seem to do anything but stare at his naked body.

He watched as she stood there with her mouth hanging open. He waited to see how long she'd stare at him until she caught herself. After a couple of minutes and a fear that she'd hyperventilate or something, he walked over to her and took the shorts in her hand. He walked past her and into the bathroom a few feet away. He slipped on the shorts and realized that they really did have to start from the beginning, because this girl had no idea what to do with a naked guy.

When he walked back out of the bathroom, she'd collected his clothes, putting his wallet and keys on the counter, and was putting them in the washer. He stopped and watched her as she quietly berated herself.

"What was I thinking? I can't do this! I can't even look at him, much less let him touch me. He couldn't care less if I was a virgin who's scared or a slut who's begging him. It's all the same to him. He doesn't get it! He can't understand that! This was so stupid! Why did I think that this could fix my prob—"

Troy slipped his hands around her waist. "Shhhh…"

She froze.

"I know you're scared. That's fine. I just needed to know how scared you really were. Some girls are easy, some girls are terrified, and some girls just need a little push. I was just trying to figure out where you are. Okay?" He softly whispered into her ear through her hair.

She nodded, because she didn't trust her voice right then.

"Thank you for actually washing my clothes, though."

She deflated a little when she realized that she was probably being stupid. "Is there something else I should have done?"

Troy chuckled, "Some girls would've just put them in a bag so I could take them home to my mom. I like your approach better though." He lifted a hand and pulled her hair back. He nuzzled the skin just behind her ear. He didn't kiss. He didn't touch her the way his body was telling him he wanted to, he just nuzzled her skin. She was rigid against him out of nerves from just his touch. He smiled and turned her around in his arms. She tried to swallow, but he knew her mouth was too dry. "Just for today, we're going to focus on gentle touches and easy conversation," he whispered. "We'll deal with kissing and foreplay and sex another time."

The word sex sent her skin to a blazing temperature that he had to be able to see in the color red that was sure to be showing on her skin now. "Uh, yeah, so gentle touches."

He gently slid his nose along her cheek and rested his lips over her ear. "Yes."

"Wow," she breathed out.

He smiled to himself. "God, you're cute."

She felt her insides twist. "Why? What did I do wrong?"

He laughed softly. "Nothing." He laughed, "I just realized you're the only one who's ever done that right."

She smiled and let her head lower slightly. As he pulled back she missed the feeling of him so close. She glanced up. "I-Uh, well, I don't—"

Troy just waited for her to figure out what to say.

"God, I can't even think when you're that close, much less talk like a normal human being. What's worse is that I didn't want you to get that far away." She rolled her eyes at herself. "I can't do this. I can't shut up when I should and I can't talk when I should and I—"

He smiled and tried to cover his laugh.

"What?" She was showing some frustration now.

"Gabriella, you're just nervous. Everybody's nervous their first time."

She looked him in the eye, "Right, like you were shaking when you kissed the first girl or lost your virginity. Quit trying to make me feel better!"

He shook his head. "The first girl I kissed I was so terrified that I screwed up the kiss. I actually pulled away with her tongue still in my mouth. It was mortifying. I don't even remember what I did after that."

She looked at him. "So, she was sitting there with her tongue stuck out like she was making a face or something?" She smiled a little tentatively.

He nodded, "Yep."

"When was this?"

He looked away, "I don't know."

She looked at him proving that she clearly didn't believe him.

"Seventh grade I think?"

Her eyebrows shot up, "Seventh grade? OMG! No wonder I'm the school 'sweetheart'! I'm six years behind on social development!"

Troy rolled his eyes. "You're not six years behind. Everybody does this stuff at their own pace! I was early."

She glared at him. "Why?"

Troy pulled back a little more and rubbed his neck. He glanced at the washing machine and realized that this was going to be a long evening. "Let's not talk about this right now."

She narrowed her eyes, "Answer my question and I'll let it go, no matter what your answer is."

"It felt good and there aren't a lot of things in my life that feel good. So, I jumped in early."

She nodded, but kept to her word. She didn't pester him any further on the topic. Instead she turned, walked back into the kitchen and poured herself another cup of coffee. "So, I've decided on a topic for the project. Would you like to know a little, so that you can tell Ms. Darbus tomorrow?"

Troy was beyond relieved at the change of topic. He couldn't believe that she stayed true to her word and left his explanation alone. "Yeah. What did you decided on?"

"Reflexes, there's several different kinds and there's some that have special names." She put her coffee down and walked back over to him. "For instance, she took his hand and lifted it so that it was open and facing upward. She softly traced her finger nail along his skin. Reflexively he closed his fingers in on hers. "That is the bibinski reflex."

He just looked at their hands. "That's something I did without thinking? How do you know I didn't just want you to stop?"

She smiled, "Doesn't really matter what the motive is, you would have closed your fingers anyway. Even newborns do it." She turned and walked back over to her coffee. She motioned to the couch as she walked over to it. "That's what all this is. It's research on various reflexes."

He walked over and picked up a stack of papers behind where she was sitting. He sat down and looked over her shoulder at what she was reading. "What's that? More research?"

She shrugged. "No, it's a story that a friend of mine wrote. She wanted me to read it."

"What's it about?"

She felt herself blush again. "It's—uh—it's a love story."

He laughed, "Seriously?"

"Yeah." She looked offended. "What's so wrong with that?"

He laughed again and scoffed. "It's a love story! You're sitting here in an empty house with a guy who's supposed to be East High's golden boy and you're sitting here reading a fictional love story!"

She turned so that she was facing him. "So?"

"You could be living a love story, but you're reading one instead! You're like every guy's dream girl! You're hot and smart and sweet! Plus, you have the house to yourself a lot! You should be having like the most amazing sex ever and instead you're sitting there reading some story!" He laughed and rolled his eyes.

She glared at him. "Leave the story alone! My friend writes great stuff!"

He laughed harder, "That's what you took out of that?" He leaned back against the cushions. "Seriously?"

"What now?"

"Nothing." He laughed a little lighter. "Nothing."

She shoved him. "Quit picking on me."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her against him. He reached over to her side and started to tickle her.

As she laughed hysterically and attempted to fight back, he heard her trying to say something. He let her breath for a split second. "What was that?"

"I said—" she breathed, "Screw you!"

He tickled her mercilessly for a few more seconds. Then he brought her face to face with him. "You're not ready for that, Ms. Montez."

She froze in his hands. "I—I—I didn't mean—"

He smiled and nuzzled her cheek. "I know, Gabriella. Relax." He whispered into her ear. He had to bite his lip to keep from kissing her soft skin or nibbling at her ear lobe. He wanted to grasp her and caress her body. But, he couldn't. He had to get her used to being near him. She needed to learn how to tease and be teased first. He moaned a little next to her ear. "You smell so good."

She froze in his arms again. "Troy, stop, please."

It was his turn to freeze. Any other girl he'd push, but he wasn't sure where too far was with her. That's when the next lesson occurred to him. "Gabriella, I need you to listen to me for a minute." He set her so that she was beside him. He looked her in the eye. "Gabi, you can always say stop. You can always say no. That's something I should have told you earlier. You can always tell any guy to stop. Any guy who gives you shit about it isn't a guy you should stick around for, 'cause he's more likely to be the guy who thinks he's entitled to you. This is really important, Gabi. You need to know that you can always say stop to any guy. Okay?"

She nodded. "Do you always freeze that way when a girl tells you to stop?"

Troy closed his eyes. He could lie to her, but he figured it would bite him in the ass. "No, I don't. But, I'm usually with girls who know that they can get me to stop if they really want me to. With you, it's not the same. There are guys out there who would try to pressure you. Hell, I'm generally that way, but you never, never, never _have_ to do anything. And, that's true for our lessons too. If I push you farther than you're ready to go, tell me. I can't know that I'm scaring you or hurting you if you don't tell me, okay? I need you to tell me."

She nodded again as she looked at her hands. "I know I'm like a kid when it comes to this stuff, I'm so sorry. I just—that last thing—it—you—"

Troy gently pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear and lifted her chin with his finger. "You don't have to apologize. You never apologize if a guy goes too far."

She glanced everywhere but at his eyes. "Okay." She tried not to look sad. She tried to hide her ridiculous embarrassment. She kept telling herself that Troy wasn't trying to push her. He was just trying to do as she asked him earlier. He hadn't even kissed her. She was berating herself for freaking out. "I was just—when you made that sound—I thought you might try, and I—"

Troy smiled gently. "Me moaning against your skin is just a way for me to tell you that you're exciting me. It's a wordless expression of desire, Gabi."

She blushed again. "You desire me?"

He laughed and in a smart ass tone said, "No. You know I bet the guys that I'll be able to sleep with any girl. I don't actually have to be attracted to her. What difference does that make?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "So, I'm really not that hideous. Some guy could actually find me attractive, right?"

Troy furrowed his brow. "You don't realize how many guys drool over you now, do you? I've watched you walk down the hall in that little skirt that you wear sometimes and every guy's head turns to look at you. I swear every guy within sight checks you out when you wear that. You're legs look like…I don't know, but they just draw the eye of every guy who can see them. I can't tell you how many fantasies I've had about that little skirt."

She was blushing furiously now. She smiled a little, "So, if I were to bend over to say, pick up a book when I had that skirt on…"

Troy felt his mouth go dry, "Uh, yeah. Every guy would look."

The buzzer for the washer went off before he could say anything more. She hopped up and went to flip his clothes over to the dryer. As she came back she saw him reading part of Anais's story. She smiled to herself. Then an idea struck her. He'd said they were working on gentle touches today. So, as she came back, she bent down behind him and brushed her lips over his ear and slid her hands over his shoulders onto his chest. Her heart was beating a million miles a minute afraid of how he'd respond. She whispered, "So, you're just sitting here reading a story?"

Troy smiled a million dollar smile. She was perfect. One evening and she was pulling out pro moves. "You are a fast learner, aren't you?"

She swallowed hard. "You said we were working on gentle touches today, right?"

He put the story down and slid his hands over her arms that were gently wrapped around him from behind. "Yes, yes, I did. And this, my little straight A student, is a perfect example of something you want to save for when you want the guy to move on to the next step, because it's as enticing as hell for a guy to have a girl come on to him when he isn't expecting it. So…" He turned around to look at her. "If you decided to try something more with a guy, this is exactly the kind of thing you'd want to do."

Gabriella smiled, pleased with herself for getting something right. "Okay."

He smiled at her pleased expression. "See you can learn this too. It just takes a little practice and for you a few definitions."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh, so you figured everything out all on your own?"

He flicked an eyebrow in an incredibly sexy smirk, "I'm just that good, Ms. Montez."

She laughed, "Smartass."

He laughed and gave her a mock shocked expression. "Excuse me? So, if I'm not good why did you come to me and ask me to teach you all of this stuff? Huh?"

She laughed, "For all you know, I could have been prepared to ask any partner I got in class for this."

He stopped for a second to eye her, then he smirked, "What if you'd ended up with a female partner?"

She gave him a teasing smile, "Who said I had anything against girls?"

Troy's jaw dropped to the floor. He was speechless. He kept trying to find words his brain just couldn't seem to form anything coherent. So, all he got out was, "What?"

She laughed as she walked back around to the front of the couch.

He watched her as a whole new set of naughty images danced through his mind. "Oh god…don't ever tease a guy you don't want to sleep with that way." He swore under his breath. "Damn that was hot!"

She laughed, "Seriously, I mean what difference does it make if you care about the person, then you care about them."

Troy's eyebrows rose yet again. "Okay, we absolutely have to stop talking about this. Jesus, woman, you're give me blue balls talking like that!"

She looked at him confused. "Give you what?"

He laughed, "Oh god, really? You've never heard the expression blue balls?" He rolled his eyes, "Okay, so back to the definition portion of tonight's lesson. Blue balls happen when a girl gets a guy really riled up and then leaves him hanging. Really, it has to happen a lot, but after a while it can actually cause the guy some pain. If it gets bad enough it can cause a lot of pain, but it takes quite a bit for that to happen."

She just looked at him as though she were trying to wrap her head around this. "That sounds…uncomfortable."

He laughed lightly, "It is."

She shook her head and picked up their project paperwork again. "So, reflexes, um, yeah. Let's go back to talking about reflexes."

He smiled to himself. "Are there any sexual reflexes, like the bucking of a guy's hips when he's between a girl's legs?"

She shook her head. "There aren't any that I know of, but I guess I can look when I'm researching next." She smiled.

He nodded, "You should."

She turned back to her planner, "I've got to get some work done on this this week, because my parents will be back Sunday and then it'll be another two weeks before I get peace and quiet again."

Troy just looked at her. "So, after tonight, when should our next lesson be?"

She just looked at him, "I don't know, you're the teacher, right?"

He smiled at her in a very confident manner, "Yes, I am." His tone left his desires unguarded.

She leaned away from him just a bit. "What was that all about, Mr. Bolton?"

He laughed and shook his head. Before he really thought about it, he squeezed her closer to him with the arm he had draped across her shoulders and he kissed the side of her head as he got up to go to the bathroom again. As his brain clicked on what he'd just done, he stopped, "Oh Gabi, I'm so sorry. That—I wasn't trying to push. I just did it without thinking. It just came naturally to me."

She laughed, "Then I guess there are some sexual reflexes?"

He smiled, "Yeah, I guess so."

The next day at school, he noticed that she seemed more confident as she walked through the halls. Some of her shyness was gone and she seemed to notice when guys looked her over. He wasn't surprised to find a shy smile still gracing her lips though.

Troy didn't really interact with her other than to nod as she walked by or to smile if they met eyes. He didn't go to her locker or anything. He just kept his distance. Still, Chad caught him looking.

"Dude, what's up with the school prude, man? Did you tap that all ready?"

Troy rolled his eyes, "Please! That chicks like Fort fucking Knox."

Chad laughed at his friend, "Ah, is she making you work for it, Bolton?"

Troy shook his head and grabbed his next set of books. "No, she's just actually making me study human behavior, man."

Chad laughed, but Troy smiled because he knew that their definitions of 'study human behavior' were different. The least he could do was not embarrass her by telling everyone that she'd asked for lessons.

Sitting in homeroom, he wasn't surprised when Sharpay walked in and practically performed a lap dance as she squeezed onto his lap. Truth of it was, he didn't mind her rubbing up against him, he just wasn't sure how it was going to affect his next lesson and the last thing he wanted were complications with the new situation he found himself in. He liked the conditions, not that he was dating Gabriella exactly or exclusive with her or anything remotely like that. He just didn't want any complications.

So, when Sharpay wiggled her butt against his crouch, he grabbed her by the sides and pressed up against her for a split second and then moved her so that she was perched on his knee. The irony was, when he looked up Gabriella wasn't scowling. She was actually watching as though she were learning new dance steps to choreography. That alone made him smile. When she caught him watching her, she blushed ferociously though and went back to the conversation that her friends were having.

Troy teased Sharpay a little for the fact that he knew Gabriella was watching and as long as she wasn't angry, he might as well let her see what he would do when a girl was coming on to him that he wanted to play with. He ran his finger up her back without missing a beat in the conversation between him and his friends. Then to intensify her reactions to him, he let his fingers slip just under the edge of Sharpay's shirt as though he were going to find some way of touching her chest even in this very public setting.

Gabriella watched Troy's fingers dance over Sharpay's skin in a teasing way. She wasn't angry or jealous, okay, she was a little jealous, only because she wanted someone to want her that bad though. She casually kept track of where his fingers slid on Sharpay's skin. She tried to catalog it in her brain so that if he did the same to her, she'd recognize the motions. Then just like every other dance she'd ever learned, she filed the moves away for later use.

Ms. Darbus came in and shewed Sharpay from Troy's lap and class went on as usual.

The next week went nearly the same way. Troy would use Sharpay's desire to have his attention as a way to show Gabriella little touches he could get away with in public. He would watch as she picked up on several of the moves, never seeming to get jealous, but eager to figure this out. He would wait for Sharpay to stop him, but she never did. So, he got a little more adventurous each day. Finally, a week and a half later, he managed to get a good feel of her breast for a few minutes. He had to pay more attention to make sure no one noticed directly.

When Ms. Darbus walked in, Troy quickly removed his hand from Sharpay's shirt. He looked up at Gabriella as Sharpay moved to her desk and was surprised to see Gabriella looking a little confused or maybe repulsed by what she'd casually watched Troy do.

He decided to send her a text during class. He quietly sent the message to Gabriella's phone, 'what's wrong? Did I freak u out?'

Gabriella read the message under her desk, but didn't respond. When class was over she rushed out of the room seemingly heading to her next class. After lunch, Troy found her walking to her locker. "Hey."

She glanced back at him, but didn't stop. When he jogged to catch up to her, he grabbed her arm. "What happened this morning? You've been fine up until today."

She looked at him. "You're using her, Troy. I mean at first it was just flirting and fun, but you felt her up this morning. You were actually playing with her breasts for me to watch."

Troy looked at her confused, "So, as long as I'm just stringing her along with teasing, you don't care and have no problem watching. But, if I actually give her what she wants, then I'm crossing your line?"

"I'm sure she doesn't want you feeling her up for other people to watch, Troy."

He laughed, "She begged me to feel her up in class. In fact, for your information, every time we have a party, she begs me to fuck her where everyone can see. She likes being watched, Gabriella, even when she's being played with or having sex."

Gabriella looked at Troy a little dumbfounded.

"If she knew you were watching us every day, she'd love it. She'd have her hands down my pants if she knew you were watching, but I'm not that comfortable with being watched, so I don't tell her. You I don't mind, but everybody else doesn't need to see that."

Gabriella looked even more confused now. "If you're not comfortable with being watched, then what the hell are you doing all this for?"

He smiled, "For you. At first, it was just so you could see what kinds of gentle touches could be done in public, but then the last couple of days I thought you might find it interesting how other girls handle being touched. So, I figured that I know she likes it and you could watch and then maybe when we got to…"

Gabriella just looked at him dumbfounded. "Troy, sometimes you seem like this really sweet guy who cares and then other times like this morning, you seem like a jackass who'd be more than willing to fuck any female with two legs." She turned around and walked away.

Troy stood in the middle of the hallway a little confused.

Two days later, Gabriella walked in to the school before classes and found Chad giving Troy a high five. He was jazzed about something. That was when she heard what they were talking about. "Man, you totally copped a feel on Sharpay in front of everybody, dude! None of us would have been able to pull that off. She'd have killed anybody else, but she was all into it!"

Gabriella rolled her eyes. As she turned to open her locker she caught Troy's eyes watching her. She met his gaze coldly and then went back to her books.

Troy was frustrated. Over the last two days he hadn't played with Sharpay's body much. He'd copped a brief touch of her ass and her breast, but nothing inside her clothes, nothing that could really turn him on. He didn't actually want Sharpay all that much, but he'd be lying if he said he hadn't fucked her once or twice in the last few days just to be able to get off in a girl. He knew she used birth control religiously, so fucking her and cumming hard in her pussy wasn't going to get him in trouble. The trouble was every time he'd done it, he'd been thinking about Gabriella, the one girl he shouldn't be thinking that about.

At the end of the day, Gabriella went home to the nice quiet surroundings that she enjoyed with and without her family. She brewed her pot of coffee and sat down to get some work down. A couple of hours later, a knock drew her out of her concentration. She got up and got the door.

Troy smiled, "Hey, underachiever, ready for today's lesson?"

Gabriella shrugged, "I don't know. I guess we'll see." She stepped back and let him into the house.

When Troy was inside and the door was closed, he took a chance. He stepped closer, backing her against the door. He put his hands against the door and leaned down. He went to kiss her lips, but she turned her head so that his lips fell onto her cheek. He kissed her cheek, but then closed his eyes and leaned his head farther back against the side of her head. "Gabriella, are you mad at me over Sharpay?"

She shrugged under him.

He sighed heavily. "I told you that she likes that kind of thing. In fact, she's been pissed at me for stopping. She said she thought that I'd finally grown some balls and was ready to claim her in front of everyone, but then I chickened out."

Gabriella clutched the fabric of his shirt in her hands. "What you do with Sharpay is your choice. I'm just trying to learn from the best. What difference does my opinion make anyway? She's your girlfriend, not mine."

Troy scoffed, "She's not my girlfriend."

"Oh sorry, I guess I just assumed."

He rolled his eyes, "I play with her because I can. It's not about anything but the feel of a girl's body against mine when I'm with her. She wants more, but I couldn't care less."

Gabriella shook her head. "And that is exactly what I mean. You couldn't care less, but you're feeling her up on a daily basis. Of course, she wants more. She's letting you do things that only someone who cares about you is supposed to be doing."

He leaned back, "Gabi, it's not like she doesn't know that I don't want anything but a physical relationship with her. It's not like I'm lying to her."

She rolled her eyes, "No, you're just touching her, fucking her, I imagine, and not giving a damn about her whatsoever."

Troy sighed. "Real question is did you get anything from the last two weeks?"

Gabriella sighed and slowly nodded, "Yeah, I did."

Troy smiled his first of the evening. "Good, since that was the reason this mess started in the first place."

Gabriella ducked under his arm and headed for the kitchen. "Coffee again today, or would you prefer something else?"

Troy followed her into the kitchen pulled down a coffee mug and handed it to her. After his coffee was poured, he wrapped his arms around Gabriella's waist. "So, last time, we worked on gentle touches and then you saw me with Sharpay doing some of the same things. This time, we're going to work on soft kisses." He bent his head into the crook of Gabriella's neck and pushed her hair away. He softly placed a chaste kiss against her neck. He smiled when he felt her shudder under him. "Soft kisses can be on the lips, but I've found them much more satisfying when they're used in a variety of places." He turned her in his arms. "For instance," he placed a soft kiss against her forehead and then her temple and then her cheek, "when I want to kiss a girl gently in public. But, when I'm alone with her, I'm more likely to do this." Troy leaned forward and gently, but passionately pressed a lingering kiss to Gabriella's lips. He felt her catch her breath. He smiled, "Trick is to breathe through your nose. You'll figure it out after a little practice, but don't hold your breath." He kissed her lightly again on her lips before pulling back. He picked up his coffee mug and took a sip while he let her try to unravel what he'd said in her mind.

Gabriella shook her head and walked over to the couch. She didn't say anything. She kept her thoughts to herself.

Troy frowned, "Gabi, please don't let Sharpay get in the way of what we're doing here."

Gabi turned and looked at him. "Maybe this was a bad idea, Troy? I mean if you're going to come over here and show me all this stuff, and then I watch you do all of it Sharpay knowing you don't love her. I mean really. It's one thing to know you don't care about me, but Sharpay?"

Troy sat down next to her. "I'll knock off the crap with Sharpay if it will make you happy. I just thought that at least some things you might like to see how other girls handle it, you know?"

"No, I don't know, which is why we're doing this at all."

He nodded, "I'm sorry I upset you."

"You didn't upset me. I guess you just disappointed me. I thought you were a nicer guy than that."

Troy shook his head, "With anybody else, I'm an ass, Gabi. I don't know why, but I'm more protective of you than I am with other girls."

After few moments of silence, Troy spoke up, "So, should I spill the coffee on me this time? Maybe that will get us back on track?"

She looked at him oddly. "What?"

"Well, I mean last time, we talked and we joked and there were little moments where I showed you things, but it was smooth, for the most part. Tonight we seem to be fighting."

Gabriella laughed, "You really aren't used to being with any girl who isn't just trying to get you to play with her or be her boyfriend, are you?"

Troy shrugged, "So?"

Gabriella laughed harder, "It must suck to be you."

Troy shook his head, "Hey, I can get what I need whenever I want it."

Gabriella smirked, "No, you can get pussy whenever you want it, but what you need you can't get from just any girl."

Troy looked at her as though she'd somehow betrayed her level of knowledge. "There's a difference between fucking and making love."

She looked him in the eye. "Yeah."

He looked down into her eyes. "Sometimes you amaze me."

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Shut up. You're making fun of me again, aren't you?"

Troy leaned over and used his index finger to turn her face toward him. He gently touched his lips to hers, "No, sometimes you really are unbelievably wise, Gabi." He gently kissed her again. He was surprised when he opened his eyes to see her staring back at him obviously shocked. He smiled softly, "What?"

She smiled too, "That was very sweet."

He blushed a little. "It was supposed to be."

She pressed a quick kiss to his lips and then turned back to her pages. 'Maybe,' she thought, 'this will be a short lesson.'

Troy surprised Gabriella by pulling out some homework of his own. He knew if he actually studied she'd be shocked and he intended to get her off her balance with it. When she looked at him oddly, he just shook his head and started in on his homework. He had decided before he came over that one of his objectives in their lesson tonight was to get her to study in his arms for a while before he distracted her with some of this week's lesson on soft kissing.

A few minutes later, he looked up from his frustrating math homework. He put down his pencil and stretched. He pushed himself back into the corner of the couch. He pulled his knee up so that his foot was tucked just behind Gabriella. He moved his books so that the textbook was on his left leg and his notebook was on the couch cushions, leaving plenty of room for Gabriella in the middle of his legs.

Gabriella saw Troy move and figured that he was more comfortable. She considered a similar position on the other side of the couch, but as she began to move, Troy's hand pulled her over to him. He guided her between his legs. "Don't freak out, just come here. I want to show you something."

She looked at him a little apprehensively. "Show me what?"

Troy laughed a little, "What it feels like to study together with a guy. You're a smart girl. Most of the guys you're likely to date will expect to use studying to get close to you. So, I wanted to show you in our lesson today what it's like to study with a guy you're interested in." He smiled knowingly. "So, get comfortable and if you're bored, you could try and explain this crap to me."

Gabriella giggled, "I'm not doing any more homework for you than what I'm doing in return for these lessons."

Troy rolled his eyes, "I didn't say do it for me. I said explain it to me." He tugged her body closer to his and wrapped his free arm around Gabriella's waist. He nipped at her shoulder once she was settled between his legs. He smiled when she swatted at him. "Ahh, am I bothering you, Gabi?"

"No, you're not. It just tickles when you do that."

Troy moved his short kisses to her neck. He decided to remind her of last week. As he felt her move her head to the side to allow Troy more access to her neck, Troy gently ran his fingers over her skin wherever possible.

Gabriella let out a small moan before she realized what she wanted was more physical connection between them. She pushed her books off to the side and turned around to face him. She was on her knees leaning down to be face-to-face with him. "What do you think you're doing?"

Troy raised his eyebrows at the forward move she seemed to be doing. "I was trying to tease you while you study. At least, that was the intension. What are _you_ doing?"

Gabriella grinned. She leaned forward so that her lips brushed his ear. "Being daring." She kissed just below his earlobe and trailed kisses down his neck. She adjusted her hands so that she had one free. As she trailed her finger lightly down his skin, Troy moved beneath her. His movement created a new opening by pulling his shirt up his body. Gabriella was beginning to enjoy Troy's increased breathing and the way he was touching her, so she dropped her kisses down to his showing midsection. As she began to trail soft kisses down his defined abs, she heard him groan.

"Gabi…oh god, Gabi, stop. We aren't there yet. Gabi…"

She sat up and looked down at him. "What did I do wrong? Was it kissing your stomach? Is that bad?"

Troy looked at her with a look of complete dumbfoundedness. "Baby, kissing down a man's stomach makes him think about where else he'd like your lips to be kissing and I'm not talking about his mouth."

She looked at him. "What?"

Troy rolled his eyes, "Gabi, girls usually kiss a guy that way, trailing kisses along his stomach when she's on her way down to kissing his…"

Gabi's face turned bright red and she gasped, "his dick."

Troy smiled a little bit embarrassed for her. "Yeah, Gabi, his dick. It's alright, you didn't know. It's okay, Gabi. Just—" Troy tried to think of what to say next, "Just tuck that move back in your mind like when you slid your hands around me from behind in the last lesson. Those are moves that you do when you want a guy to move faster or to let you do something to him. Okay?"

Gabi nodded and sat back. "I didn't mean to make you think—"

Troy leaned forward and traced his finger gently along her cheek, "It's fine, Gabi. I know you didn't. I'm not upset. Relax for me, please?"

Gabi nodded as she met his eyes. She felt really stupid and guilty.

Troy saw the guilt in her eyes and decided to change his tactic. He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her against his chest. He softly kissed the top of her head. "It's alright, Gabi. It's completely okay." He kept whispering soft words to her. After maybe 10 or 15 minutes, she shifted in his arms and let out a heavy sigh. Troy looked down to realize that she had fallen to sleep in his arms. The sight of her soft features completely relaxed made him smile adoringly. She was beautiful on an everyday basis, but sleeping there in his arms, she was stunning and strikingly sweet. He leaned forward and kissed the top of her head gently. "You don't know what you do to me." He couldn't bring himself to wake her up just yet, so he tilted his head back and relaxed with a beautiful girl in his arms.

The alarm on her phone sounded blaringly loud. Gabriella tried to reach over to her nightstand to make it stop, but she hit something solid to her right. She peeked her eyes open and realized she was on the couch. The feel of someone moving beneath her told her that she was still lying on top of Troy. They had fallen asleep last night. She felt her breath catch in her chest. She watched as Troy reached over and grasped her phone and hit the button that shut it off. She was terrified of looking up to see if he was awake yet.

Troy shut the phone off, then tucked her back against his chest comfortably again and drifted off back to sleep.

Gabriella heard his breathing change and realized he had gone back to sleep with her in his arms. He knew they were sleeping together on her parents couch. He was content to lie there with her against him. She smiled to herself. Once her nerves began to ease a little, she found that she enjoyed the feeling of his body there. She didn't even mind the up and down that his breathing caused her. She loved the weight of his hand and arm that was wrapped around her softly. Just as she was beginning to think that this was good, Troy whispered something.

Because of the softness of his voice and the slurred words, Gabriella thought that she heard, "Sharpay, wait a minute…Pay…" She suddenly felt hurt. She was lying there in his arms and it was Sharpay that he was dreaming about. It was Sharpay that he wanted to come back to him. She tried not to care. She tried to keep her heart intact, but it just didn't work. She'd been excited a minute ago, now she wasn't. She tried to gently pull herself from his sleeping form, but he woke up in the process.

Troy's eyes opened and he saw her trying to untangle herself from him. He wasn't in the mood to let go of her yet, so he pulled her closer. "Where do you think you're going?"

Gabriella froze in his hold. His voice hurt. She knew her voice would give her away, so she just said nothing.

Troy tried to brush her hair aside, but she buried her face in his chest. He furrowed his brow. "Gabriella?"

She shook her head against his chest.

He chuckled, "No? You're not Gabriella anymore?"

She deflated a little. "Shut up, please, just, shut up."

Troy heard the pain. He heard her voice crack a little as she begged him to shut up. He moved his arms back around her body and pulled her up against him so that she was almost face to face with him. "Gabi what's wrong?"

Gabriella closed her eyes. "Nothing." She was beginning to regain her composure.

Troy shook his head lightly. "Gabi, talk to me. What is it?"

She leaned up and ran her hands over her face and through her hair. "No, nothing. It's nothing. I gotta get ready for school. And you're dad is probably going to kill you. So, you should really get going." She looked down at him and put on the best fake sweet smile she could possibly muster. "Don't you think?"

Troy's brow furrowed deeper. "Gabi, I don't have to—"

She put her forefinger to his lips. "Come on, Troy. Please head home? Sleeping here wasn't part of our deal."

Troy sighed. His jaw moved from one side to the other as he considered what to say back to her. "I didn't realize this was forbidden. Sorry." He pulled himself up and away from her body. "See you at school, I guess." He got up and headed out.

She broke down into tears as soon as the door was closed. The tears flowed so much easier than her smile had. Her chest hurt. Her heart hurt. She realized that she'd been treating their lessons like they were in their own little world. His moaning for Sharpay had been the reminder that he was not hers, even in her own little world.

Troy drove back to his house. She'd been right; his dad was going to kill him. What was worse was that when he pulled up into his driveway, he realized that his backpack and math homework were still strung out over her couch and floor.

He couldn't make sense of her words to him this morning. He'd never had the chance to sleep with a girl and stay, not that he'd ever really wanted to, but he'd never expected Gabi to be mean. He'd thought that she'd be shy and maybe a little innocently excited. He'd expected that goofy, happy, sweet smile that she got when he did something that made her feel good. He'd never thought that she'd go all business on him.

And what was all that about sleeping together not being part of their deal. Sure, they hadn't discussed actually sleeping in each other's arms, but what was so bad about it? Why didn't she want to wake up with him? He had been happy to see her this morning. He hadn't slept that good in so long he couldn't remember. Of course his dad's 5 am practices probably had something to do with that.

Troy ran a hand through his hair and checked the mirror wondering if he could pass it off as he just got up early and was coming back from doing something, but the disheveled nature of his entire being wasn't going to allow that to pass. He sighed heavily and pulled out his cell phone to call Gabriella about bringing his backpack and math with her to school, but he couldn't find the words. He ended up closing the phone deciding to just lie to the teacher and ask her for his stuff later. This seemed to be getting complicated and he wasn't up for that.

He got out of his truck and headed into his parents house, but it was empty. Troy looked around and found a note on the refrigerator from his dad, "You're toast. I don't know who you were screwing around with last night, but you're grounded for four weeks. Basketball practice, school, and home, that's it. And leave your cell phone on the counter, you won't be needing it. I hope your night was worth it. Dad."

Troy ran his hand through his hair again. This was going to be the worst day imaginable. Troy threw the note across the room. He slammed his phone onto the counter and walked up to his bathroom. He showered, changed, and finished getting ready for school. He looked at the house phone several times before giving up and walking out of the house again.

Once at school, Troy avoided the gym. He went straight to his locker, ignoring the greetings from teachers and peers alike. When Chad came around, he wrapped an arm around Troy's shoulders in his excited kind of way. When Troy didn't join in on his excitement, Chad looked down at him. "Hey, what's wrong, dude?"

Troy shrugged Chad's arm off his shoulder. "Nothing."

Chad raised an eyebrow and smiled, "Yeah, did you start today or something? You're PMS is way worse since you've been hanging out with Montez."

Troy glared at him. "I got grounded this morning. Four fucking weeks."

Chad's jaw dropped, "Dude, tell me you at least got some pussy for it."

Troy rolled his eyes. "I fell asleep at Gabriella's while we were working on that stupid project and she didn't wake me up and send me home. I think she wanted me to get busted or something."

Chad laughed, "Damn, no pussy, actual studying, and you get grounded."

Troy rolled his eyes. "Fuck!"

Chad looked at him, "What now?"

Troy slammed his head against his locker door. "My damn bag is at her place and my shit for class is in there." Chad remained silent which clued Troy into another presence near them. He turned to see his bag at eye level. He grabbed it and looked a little coldly at the face behind its appearance. "Thanks."

She shrugged, "Your math is in there too. Wouldn't want you to be without homework on my account." She didn't meet his eyes. She just held as blank a look as she could. It hurt to be this close to him. She'd decided before she'd left that she'd be ending their deal today, because she hadn't realized how attached she was getting. Now was better than waiting and having to see him again. "Look, about our deal, our project…I'll just finish it myself, k? No worries. You'll get you're A. I just don't think that we work together very well."

Troy's jaw dropped. It sounded like she was breaking up with him. No girl broke up with him. They weren't even dating. They just had a deal. "What?"

"Look, I just think that I have enough material to work with. I can do the rest on my own."

Troy just stared at her. "You think you know enough, but you don't. You barely have the basics down."

She looked from him to Chad and back. "I'm not trying to piss you off here. I'll make sure the project is good. You're off the hook, no harm, no foul."

Troy narrowed his eyes on her, "You know what, if that's what you want...Go for it! Fuck this." He turned slammed his locker and stormed off. It wasn't possible for this day to get any worse. He had decided that it must be one of those 'kick Troy' days, but this was just insane.

He ran up the stairs to his favorite hide out space only to find two other teenagers up there making out heavily enough that his presence didn't interrupt them. He shook his head turned and headed for another good hiding spot. He opened the door to the back stage of the theater and found yet another couple eagerly tugging at each other's clothes. He growled his frustration as he moved past them. He headed down to the green room which also appeared occupied not by a couple, but by two girls consoling a third girl who was crying about a break up. Troy rolled his eyes as he made his way out of the green room and found himself standing in the big gym. With a basketball in his hands, he spent his first period shooting baskets instead of sitting in homeroom, where the cause of his frustration now resided. His dad would be busy dealing with his homeroom class for first period, so he was safe here for one class anyway.

Troy bricked shot after shot. He worked up a sweat mostly chasing down the ball when it banked off the rim in a cock-eyed direction. He got exceedingly frustrated. Finally, he chucked the ball at the bleachers only to see Sharpay standing at the edge of the court seductively. "What? You want to berate me this morning too?"

Sharpay smiled in an alluring manner. "Come here, Troy, please?"

Troy looked at her sharply.

"I think there's a way to make you feel a little better. Don't you?" Her voice dripped with sexual appeal.

Troy looked down her body. His eyes caught every smooth curve and caught on all the exposed skin in just the right places. Before he really thought about it, he'd grabbed her pulling her legs up around his waist as his lips harshly pressured a passionless kiss to her face. He walked them into the wrestling room with the mats in one corner. He tossed her down on them, roughly shoved at his clothes getting just enough out of the way to be able to do what he wanted. Just before he positioned himself over her again, he noticed that she wasn't wearing any panties. He looked up and smirked, "Planning on success?"

She smiled arrogantly, "Fuck me, Troy. You know you want to."

Troy watched as her leg stretched up in front of him giving him better access to her pussy.

"Take it. Please…"

Troy clinched his jaw and slammed himself into her waiting warmth. He closed his eyes and let his body enjoy the feel of silky, wet pussy. He bent down over her, ignoring her panting and moaning. He buried his face in her neck and continued his fast, hard pace inside her body. As usual when he was with Sharpay his orgasm built-up only when he finally let his mind wander to other people. He heard a gasp and instantly, his mind flipped to Gabriella beneath him. His brain quickly brought up the image of her kissing down his stomach the night before. Troy's teeth were grinding together. He felt the hair against his face and he imagined being buried in Gabriella's soft core. Troy slammed into the girl beneath him one more time and felt himself cumming hard inside her. The only satisfying part being that he was actually getting off. Once the physical sensation passed, Troy was annoyed by Sharpay's smell, and her voice, and just realizing he'd let her fuck with his head yet again.

Troy rolled over and used his under shirt to clean himself up. As he was leaning down to pull his pants back up, he heard the door open and stopped horrified when Gabriella's tear filled eyes stared at his half naked body standing next to where Sharpay was still lying having obviously just been fucked hard. Troy immediately jerked his pants up and grabbed his other shirt. He ran out of the wrestling room after Gabriella.

She was crying. He could hear it from behind her. She was darting for the girl's bathroom on the other side of the gym, but he caught her just before she entered. He pulled her back into the alcove there. He wrapped his arms around her tightly. His heart was pounding, his body was sweat covered, and he knew he smelled like sex with another girl, but he didn't care. He needed her to be okay. He needed to fix this.

She was like putty in his arms. She didn't fight him after minute or so. She bawled into his chest. He wrapped her so tightly that he worried he might actually hurt her. He got them down to the floor where he curled her up into his lap. He kissed the top of her head. "Baby, I'm so sorry. Baby? Please talk to me, Gabi. Baby, please…" He looked down as her head rose from against his chest. She stared back at him with deeply red eyes and a tear stained face. It broke his heart. "Baby, I didn't mean to hurt you. God, Gabi, please don't hate me."

Her jaw wavered as she stared back at him. Her anger was beginning to rise. "It's not your fault. I got too involved." She started wiping the tears from her face, even as fresh ones dampened it. "This was supposed to be no strings attached. You have every right to fuck whoever you want, whenever you want." She started to pull away. "I'm not your baby. I'm not your girlfriend. Hell, I'm not even your friend." She sat herself a few feet away and continued collecting herself. "Thank you for saying what you did, but this is my problem. I will deal with it." She stood and walked into the bathroom.

He watched her walk through the door. He watched as the door closed leaving him outside away from the only girl he actually wanted to be near at that moment. He felt his tears burning down his cheeks. He knew Sharpay was probably telling everyone who'd listen that they were back together, that he'd had sex with her again. He knew that the school would be buzzing with the news by lunch. He knew it was going to hurt Gabriella further. He hadn't realized until just now that it was going to hurt him to watch the pain on her face. It wasn't just a little hurt either. When he flashed on her tear stained face and reddened eyes, it hit him like a knife stabbing his chest and taking a chunk of his flesh with it leaving only a gaping, bleeding, painful wound. He laid there half out of it, crying his eyes out until his father walked up on him. This day truly could not get any worse.

"TROY! What the hell is wrong with you!" He grabbed his son by the arm and yanked him up. He finally noticed the tear covered face of his son. "Troy, what's wrong?"

Troy just looked at him. He couldn't find the words to explain the pain going on in his chest. "She saw me. I—I—" He stopped, but there just weren't words for him to tell his dad how much he hurt her or how much he was hurting right now.

Jack Bolton looked at his son. He'd been furious with the boy all morning, but he saw now that screaming at him wasn't going to do anything good. Troy was obviously very upset over what he could only assume was a girl that he might very well love, even though Jack had no idea who that girl could be, yet.

Jack led his son into his office. He frowned as he watched his only child sit himself into the corner of the office, pull his knees up and bury his face while his shoulders convulsed from his overwhelming tears.

A few minutes passed and Jack let his son get out some of the tears. As the younger Bolton seemed to be calming down, Jack walked over and sat in the chair next to him. "Troy, what's happening in your life right now, son?"

Troy looked up and took a couple steadying breaths. "I screwed up, dad." He convulsed again once or twice before continuing. "I got assigned to a partner in Psychology. She's this really sweet, good girl, you know. Anyway, I couldn't believe my ears when she asked me to help her with something. She said that she's been so focused on college that she didn't ever go out with guys. She said she'd realized recently that she had no idea how to behave, how to deal with a guy if she liked him. She said that she'd do our project and make sure that we got an A and I wouldn't have to do anything but teach her how to be with a guy."

Jack's eyebrows rose. "Please tell me you said no."

Troy swallowed hard. "Come on, dad. I took her up on it. I've hung out with her a couple times. We're not doing anything intense. Literally, I mean I taught how to find a common ground for conversation and little things like when she's out with a guy if he leaves his hand on the arm rest between them he's wanting to hold her hand. That kind of stuff, nothing major. Anyway, we were talking last night. She does the cutest stuff sometimes. She gets so embarrassed sometimes over the smallest things. When I whisper in her ear she gets the chills. It's so…I don't know. I just—I like the way she responds to me. But, this was all just between us. We weren't dating. But this morning was just bad."

Troy had a few more tears drop down his face. "We fell asleep last night. It was no big deal. Nothing happened, we were working on homework. I was doing math and she was working on psych and she drifted off against me. It was so cute, dad. The next thing I know, I'm waking up and its morning and she's all, 'you should really go home,' 'this isn't part of our deal.' It was like I did something to piss her off. Then I get home and I get your note. I get it. I was out all night and I know better. But, it just pissed me off more. Then I get here and realize that I left my backpack at her place. She comes up with it and basically gives me this speech about us not working well together and I feel like she's breaking up with me. So, I just got more pissed."

"I tried to go burn off some steam and calm down, but then there were people in all my hiding places and I ended up in the gym and Sharpay showed up and was all over me and one thing led to another and…and then I look up and there's Gabriella staring at me, knowing exactly what I just did with Sharpay and I freaked. She took off and I took off after her. I finally caught her and she cries for a while and then she collects herself and tells me that it's not my fault that she needs to deal with her own feelings and something about me being allowed to screw whoever whenever because she's not my girl."

Troy felt a few more stray tears slide down his face. "But as she walked away from me I realized that I want her to be my girl. I couldn't care less about Sharpay if I tried, but Gabi, fuck…" He dropped his head down. His shoulders shook. "Just saying her name hurts right now. What the hell do I do, dad? I'm screwed. One morning and my whole world came crashing down. It's been blow after blow this morning. But I'd take them all if she'd just talk to me."

Jack sat listening to the chaos that his son's life had become. There were several reasons for him to be angry with his son. There were issues that Troy was going to have to answer for later, but what mattered most to Jack at that moment was that Troy had been honest with him. He was confused and hurt and instead of shutting his dad out, he'd told Jack things that Troy knew could get him into serious trouble. Jack looked down at Troy. "There's no easy answer to this Troy. You've been treating a really great girl like she's a toy and letting a really manipulative girl get her way. You've broken rule after rule and now you've got some consequences to deal with. The fact is the only right things to do are going to take time." He took a deep breath. "When it comes to Gabriella, the only thing you can do is give her space. She'll either forgive you or she won't, but that's not up to you. You need to stop giving in to Sharpay. She's a menace Troy, you know that though. If you need help, then just tell her that you're grounded. You got busted screwing around and I've grounded you for a month. As for the rest of it, son, there are bad days sometimes. I understand that this one is worse. You look like you've taken body blow after body blow, but Troy, these are the days when you just have to dig down deep and know that getting through the day is the best accomplishment you can hope for. Just focus on getting through the day, son."

Troy sighed, "Yeah."

Jack sighed again. "She's probably not going to speak to you today, Troy. You just have to let her heal her way."

Troy's tears slowly dropped down his cheeks again, "I just wish she'd talk to me. I just want to know what's wrong. I might be able to do something, but I don't know."

Jack nodded, "Women aren't easy, Troy, especially when you love them."

Troy looked around the floor for a minute. "If you'd asked me last night before I left what I felt about her, I'd have said that she's sweet and I care, but that's about it. This morning, waking up with her…I wanted to see her smile, dad. I'd give just about anything to see her smile."

Jack gave Troy a sad smile. "You're growing up. Caring about a woman that much is a good thing, even if it doesn't feel like it right now."

Troy looked like he didn't believe his dad, but he took what he said anyway. He had managed to stop crying. He wiped his face dry again and took a deep breath. "I need just another minute and then I'll head to class. Could you give me a pass?"

Jack nodded, "Yeah, where are you headed?"

"Chem with Bringlemeyer."

As Troy took another minute to relax, Jack pulled out a hall pass pad. He wrote out a pass and gave it to his son. When Troy was up and looking more like himself, he gave him a hug. "It's gonna be alright, kid. Just take it moment by moment today. You'll get through and then you can run off what's left of your anger in practice tonight."

Troy nodded, "Thanks, dad. I'm sorry. I know you heard some things that are gonna get me in trouble, but thanks."

Jack nodded, "We'll deal with all that later. Just get through the day."

Troy nodded and headed down the hall to his second period class that was almost over.

Gabriella uncurled herself from the corner of the handicap stall. She crossed her legs and sat up straight. She slowed her breathing and closed her eyes. She attempted to clear her mind in order to meditate for a few moments. She tried to imagine her beach where she felt immensely safe, just her, the ocean, the sand, and some tall grass to hide in when she needed it. She saw herself there for a few seconds, but as she sat comfortably hidden in the tall grass, she looked to the side and saw Troy walking towards her in the sand. He looked at her lovingly. She felt her breath catch. She tried to clear him from her beach and go back to just her and the ocean waves, but he remained there at the water's edge as though waiting for her to come around.

She jumped when she heard the bathroom stall slam open. Sharpay stood there in her fashionista way. "Well, if it isn't the school mouse all tucked up in her little mousy hole." She smirked, "Did you like the show this morning?" She didn't give Gabriella a chance to respond, "I put it together just for you. So, you should take the hint and leave Troy alone. You should have figured out all ready that he's mine. And I don't take kindly to pathetic little virgins trying to steal my man. Stay away, or I will make your life and your remaining time here at East High hell on earth." She put on a fake smile and sugary sweet tone of voice, "tudules."

Gabriella closed her eyes again as the main bathroom door closed. All she could think about was the sound of Sharpay's name on Troy's lips as he slept this morning. Gabriella's eyes teared up again. She wanted to run to Troy and have him hold her like he had last night, but that's not the way the world worked. She had to be strong. She didn't have long left here. She could focus on her work and soon she'd be off at Stanford.

Gabriella collected herself and walked back out into the hall as the bell rang for second to end and for everyone to head to their third period class. She collected her bag and walked to her third period class. Psychology was going to be something she just had to get through today. Thank god she had plenty of work to do.

"Alright, well, I know how busy you all seem to have gotten. So, today we will be going as a class to the library where you will split off into your pairs to work on your projects."

The class buzzed softly as Gabriella stepped into the room a little late. Ms. Darbus turned, "Why, Ms. Montez, tardiness is not like you at all."

Gabriella nodded her head, "I'm sorry Ms. Darbus, but I realized too late that I had left my bag in Mr. Kasey's room and I had to return to get it."

Darbus furrowed her brow gently knowing that forgetfulness was unlike her star pupil as well. "Alright, well you might as well stay standing as we're heading to the library to work in our pairs on the projects today."

Gabriella's eyes widened for a split second, but her composure quickly re-exerted itself and nearly no one noticed her momentary slip. Gabriella turned and followed along with the class. Taylor caught up with her and grabbed her elbow. "Where have you been? What's wrong with you? You look like you've been holed up somewhere crying your eyes out."

Gabriella stared straight ahead. "I have been. And, no before you ask, I don't want to talk about it. I have a lot of work to get done." She turned and found an open table and began spreading out her materials.

Troy knew that his dad had said to give her space, but Darbus had ruined that. If he didn't go work with Gabriella she would know that the work was all Gabi's and he'd get shut out of his part of the project grade. So, as she settled down, he walked slowly over to her. When he reached the table, he stood there quietly waiting for her to look up. When she didn't, he softly said, "Hey."

Gabriella glanced up and swallowed hard. "Um, hi. So, I guess you probably need to sit here, huh?"

Troy nodded, "Do you mind? I mean I don't know anything about—"

"Just sit here quietly, Troy."

He stopped speaking and tried to sit there and look at his math that he hadn't finished last night. All he could think about though was the moment they'd shared on her couch last night. She'd told him she was going to try being daring. Troy felt himself harden at the thought of her kissing his abs. He closed his eyes and tried to refocus on the work in front of him. He looked up at her. It was just a quick glance, but it made him want to reach for her. He resisted the urge and redoubled his efforts at math.

Gabriella knew he was struggling to concentrate today. She saw all of his tell tale signs. He was fidgeting, looking up every few seconds, sighing repeatedly, and rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. It made her smile briefly before she remembered Sharpay's warning. _Hell on earth._

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore. "Gabi what did I do that made you so mad at me this morning? What happened?"

She looked at him. "I told you it was nothing."

"I know you did, but I don't believe you. Gabi, this all started—Please, just tell me what I did."

Gabriella looked around and decided they were far enough away from the others. "I was awake when you were still sleeping. I don't know what you remember of your dreams, but I know what you were talking about."

He looked at her, "I don't talk in my sleep."

She smirked, "Yeah, Troy, you do."

"Fine what did I say that caused all of this?"

She closed her eyes, "You said Sharpay's name and you asked her to wait a minute."

Troy looked up, "No, I didn't."

Gabriella looked at him, "Yes, you did. You were unconscious. How would you know?"

Troy smiled, "Because I remember the dream."

She looked at him like he was a lunatic. "Fine then, what did you say?"

He smiled, "I said, 'shh, baby wait a minute.' I was talking to you in my dream, baby. When you wouldn't look at me, I called you, 'babe."

Gabriella replayed what she heard in her head. To her astonishment, his words fit. His words fit even a little better than what she'd thought she'd heard. She took a breath, "Still, it doesn't matter. She got you back this morning and she's already told me to leave you alone. I don't know what she knows, but she told me she'd make my life a living hell. So,-"

Troy smirked, "She's not going to do anything to you. If she does, she'll answer to me. I'm not with her, Gabi. I know what this morning looked like. I get that, but I'm not with her."

Gabriella shook her head, "This just all got too complicated, Troy. I really think it's better if we just don't continue the lessons, okay?"

Troy used his index finger to tuck a strand of loose hair behind her ear. "I think we should keep going. I think that there's still so much for you to learn. Hell, this could be the next lesson, Gabi. No relationship is easy. There are always people who will get jealous and try in whatever way to get in the way of that. As much as you need to learn how to be physical, you also need to learn how to deal with other people when they want to take away something you have with someone. We can handle Sharpay, Gabi. You need to see that for yourself. I think we definitely have to keep going with the lessons."

She smiled softly at his words. She wanted to resist him, but the truth was that she wanted to be near him. She wanted his attention. "Okay. So, dealing with people like Sharpay is our next lesson."

Troy smiled wider than he had all day. "Yes."

She returned his smile, "Okay."

Troy nodded. With his free hand, he wrapped her smaller hand in his own. He'd have kissed her if they'd been anywhere else.

Troy had been right earlier in the day when he realized that Sharpay would be running her mouth. He strolled into the cafeteria with at least some of his usual swagger back. He immediately heard the volume level in the one large room alter. There were a million loud whispers simultaneously. Troy gave a half smile and shook his head. Sometimes the whispers were unnerving; other times they were just annoying. Today they were just annoying to him. The real test, however, was going to be Gabi's reaction.

Chad bumped fists with him as Troy sat down at their customary table. Chad's face showed his eagerness to find out what was happening. Troy laughed at him, "What's up, Chad? Got some questions for me?"

Chad's eyes got huge. "What the fuck, man? I've been hearing all kinds of crazy shit all day! What the hell, dude?"

Troy rolled his eyes. "No, wait. Let me see if I can get it all without any help." He looked around the table at each of the guys. They all nodded and watched as Troy began to recount the things he knew would be whispered about throughout the school. "Okay, let's see, I'm sure the first rumor was how I fucked Sharpay this morning and somehow that's being used as evidence that we're 'back' together. Then there's what I'm sure are the Gabriella rumors. Let's see, I'm betting it goes something about me cheating on Sharpay with good girl Gabriella as evidenced by something somebody is sure they saw or heard in psych class. Is that about right?"

Chad's eyebrows rose higher with each rumor Troy identified. When Troy was done Chad had one eyebrow up and one eyebrow down.

Zeke looked back at his friend. "Dude, I know you had a weird night, but this is insane. Pissing off Sharpay is beyond nuts. And Gabriella? Dude, she doesn't put out, why were you seen holding her hand?"

Troy laughed, but the laugh died on his lips as the volume changed in the room again. He turned and saw Gabriella standing petrified in the doorway of the cafeteria. She was looking around her like she was surrounded by hyenas and she was a fresh slab of meat. Troy swallowed his last bite of food and waited to see what she would do. He had every intention of jumping in if she got in over her head, but he wanted to see if she'd recover on her own. He couldn't save her from everything. She had to manage some lessons more or less on her own. Still he watched just to be sure.

Gabriella heard the words people were "whispering" about her and Troy and Sharpay and their opinions on the matter and on her. She wanted to turn and run. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to cry or scream, but none of that was really an option. So, she took a deep breath, shut out the words, and with her head held a little higher, she walked through the lunch room, got her food and walked up the stairs to the table she generally shared with her friends.

Troy smiled at her decision. He didn't know if she'd be able to handle it, but she had. He knew it was all tearing her up inside, but she'd made the hardest part of the walk already. All she had to do now was keep from getting entangled in some opinionated conversation about her new love life.

"Chad hit him on the arm. Man, tell me truth, who are you after now? Sharpay or Gabriella?"

Troy rolled his eyes, "Who said I'm after either? Seems like they're both after me."

Chad looked at him. "Man, I was there when Gabriella walked up to you this morning. She's not after you. You however seemed exceptionally pissed off that she wouldn't let you help her with your 'project.'"

Troy smiled, "Yeah, I did get pretty pissed, didn't I?"

Chad nodded. "I thought we were gonna have to force some Prozac in you or something."

Zeke laughed, "Man, this is Troy. Sure, he had a bad morning, but one hot screw and a couple hours and he's back on top."

Chad shook his head. "You didn't see him this morning, dude."

Jason finally spoke up, "Hey Troy, if it were me, I'd stick with Gabriella all the way, man. Screw Sharpay, I mean I know we all have, but you know what I mean."

Troy smiled easily at Jason. Sometimes the guy was a little dense, but when it came to the big stuff he usually had a way of stating what everyone had going on in the back of their heads. "Thanks, J. I'll keep that in mind."

Jason went back to his lunch and Zeke shook his head as he got up. "I'd keep an eye on Sharpay though." He pointed to the stairs that she was currently walking up. "Looks like she has your girl in her sights."

Troy turned and happened to spot Sharpay as she stopped immediately behind Gabriella and dumped an entire tray of nachos and cheese, chili, and some other liquid food over Gabriella's head "by accident." Troy took a deep breath and clinched his jaw.

He stood up to walk up there, but Chad put a hand on his chest stopping him. "You don't want any part of that, dude." Troy stopped for a second and looked up to see Taylor in Sharpay's face screaming things he hadn't known Taylor knew how to say. He smiled a little as Kelsi, the single most soft spoken girl he'd ever seen in his life, told Sharpay to stick her pathetic little bullshit where the sun doesn't shine because if she gave Gabriella shit again, Kelsi was gonna give her a new place to put it.

Troy was smiling at her friend's defense until his eyes dropped onto her. She was sitting there staring at her clothes and her arms covered in food. She was crying now. He removed Chad's hand and bound his way up the stairs two at a time. As he walked up, Sharpay moved as though she were coming to him, but he raised his hand, "Don't bother, 'cause I don't wanna hear it. You cause her anymore trouble and I'm going to make _your _life hell, Sharpay. Leave her alone, directly and indirectly. I find out you're behind any shit like this again and I'll make sure every little flaw on that body you try to pretend is perfect gets talked about by the whole damn school."

Taylor picked up smoothly after Troy finished, "Go away now, Barbie. Nobody wants you here anyway."

Gabriella looked up at the sound of his voice. She took a very unsteady breath and began to regain her own composure as she heard him defend her in a way Sharpay would understand. That was when she remembered exactly how much smarter she was than the blonde who'd done this to her. She stood up silencing the room. She turned to Sharpay and looked her straight in the eye. "Even now, you have nothing on me Sharpay, but nice try." She turned and walked out of the room. She walked past Troy without so much as a glance.

Gabriella got to her locker, grabbed her gym/dance bag and headed to the gym. Once there, she asked Coach Bolton if he happened to have something that she could wash her hair out with, given the obvious mess. He nodded after quite an alarmed look. "Yes, sweetheart, we just need to get a shower kit out of the cabinet in my office. The nurse likes for there to be a couple in here just in case of a chemical spill or some other ridiculous prank." He smiled a bit more easily at her as he handed her the small plastic bag with sponge, body wash, and shampoo. She turned to leave for the shower. "Gabriella?"

She stopped and looked at Troy's dad. "I hope this wasn't over Troy."

Gabriella shook her head. "Just a very jealous, uncreative girl who will never be more than she is right now." She gave Coach Bolton a small, uneasy smile and went about her task.

Once she was clean again, Gabriella put on the clothes she had in her bag for her dance class tonight. She rolled her eyes when she looked in the mirror. People were going to talk about her wardrobe even more when they saw the fitted yoga style pants that showed her curves and the tight sports bra/tank top that she wore when she danced to faster music where loose clothing would prohibit movement. She slipped on her socks and shoes and headed out of the bathroom with her food covered clothes in a plastic bag in her gym bag.

She had put her hair up in a ponytail because it just seemed right in her workout clothes. Now that she stepped into the gym where half the guy's class was playing basketball, she wished her hair was down though, so that they couldn't see her blush when they stopped playing, stared at her and started commenting and whistling. She was embarrassed and looked up at the guys to shake her head disapprovingly, but the sight that caught her eyes was Troy jogging over to her. He picked up a sweatshirt from the bench of the bleachers and brought it over. He smiled, "I figured you would be uncomfortable and would want something a little baggier to hide in."

She took the sweatshirt and nodded, "Thanks. I appreciate that. I didn't have anything but my dance clothes for tonight."

He nodded, then leaned forward and placed a quick kiss to her cheek. "I gotta get back," he said as he leaned back up. "I'll see you later?"

She nodded, "Sure."

He turned to head back to the game, but he flipped around and jogging backwards for a moment and said, "By the way, you mastered that lesson." He smiled teasingly and went back to basketball with his friends.

Troy was flying. His truck was old, so occasionally he'd borrow Jason's car to just go for a drive. J was awesome that way. Troy always took the cherry red 2010 V8 Corvette back with a full tank of gas and J never gave him shit. Troy was flying down his favorite back road in New Mexico. Highway 314 followed the Rio Peurco all the way down to the reservoir before the water turned into the Rio Grande.

Troy was flying to burn off some steam. He wasn't angry. He was excited. He'd made it through his four week grounding without incident. His dad had promised him that if he succeeded in being at home, practice, or school **_only _**for four weeks, he'd let him off for the other offenses for good behavior. Troy made it. Four weeks he'd been cooped up with his dad there at every damn corner. Four weeks of no alone time unless it was in his room. Four weeks of no girls, no hanging with the guys, no play of any kind. Four weeks.

His first venture was to Jason's to borrow his car and next he was going for a drive before meeting Gabriella for their next lesson. He'd been jonesing for a taste of her lips. He'd been craving sex for 3 weeks, but for some reason the taste of her mouth was what kept coming back to him. He smiled at the feel of the car flying down the highway. He turned the music up just a little.

He was coming back into Albuquerque now. He had to slow down, but slowing down to get back into town meant that he was that much closer to his girl. He was that much closer to the kisses he'd been longing for throughout his four weeks.

He'd called her as soon as his dad had handed him his phone. He'd made plans to see her right after he "ran an errand." He smirked as his smart ass smile graced his lips. He was going pull her into the hottest kiss of the millennium when he got to her. He turned a corner smiling more intensely when he saw her house as it always seemed to sit when she was the only one home, quiet with just the living room area lit up.

Troy got out of the borrowed car and jogged up to her door. He knocked harder than he'd intended to, but he couldn't help himself. When she answered, he stepped in and pulled her against him. He wrapped her in his arms in a split second and before she could say anything he passionately pressed the neediest kiss he'd ever felt to her lips. He continued kissing her once then twice then again. He wanted to lift her up and wrap her legs around his body before landing on top of her on the couch, but he didn't. He kissed her solidly again. When he had to pull back, he looked into her eyes, "Hi, baby."

The only thing she could register was shock. It had to be all over her face, because his laughing gaze was pouring over her visage. Slowly, a smile curved her lips. She rolled her eyes and closed the door. As she turned back toward him again, she found him leaning in for another round of kisses. This time his lips trailed down her jaw to her neck as his fingers played with the collar of her shirt giving him more skin to kiss along her collar bone. Surprisingly, she felt an incredible reaction to the feel of his lips and fingers running along her collar bone. She stretched her head to the side to give him more room to kiss her. She wished she was wearing a tank top. If she'd changed he could be kissing and was that his tongue? She froze for a second as she felt his tongue licking her carefully. She groaned as his lips and tongue found just the right spot at the base of her neck. "Troy…"

Her voice sent him into overdrive. He kissed her harder. He sucked at the skin that made her moan his name. He marked the place on her body that caused her to moan for him the way he was aching for her. His hands roamed her still clothed body. He had every intention of shedding her body of some of the offensive clothing before their "lesson" was over tonight. He knew this wasn't generally how they worked, but he was so pent up he needed this. He got his fingers beneath the edge of her shirt as she moaned for him again. The sound of her moans was driving him crazy.

She turned the tables on him. She pushed him back onto the couch. She watched his surprised look as he fell back onto the cushions. She grinned mischievously as she put a knee on either said of his hips. She loved the intensely heated look she got from him as he realized that she was straddling his body. She leaned forward putting her arms around his neck. Leaning forward a little more, she restarted their kissing and touching. She'd seen the move in a movie and had always wondered what it was like. Now, she was thoroughly enjoying the reaction it got her. "MMMmmm…" she moaned as he kissed her neck again.

Troy wrapped his arms around her tightly bringing her chest flush against his face. He buried his face in her fabric covered body. "God baby…" He knew if he didn't stop himself now, he'd end up doing something that she wouldn't be ready for. So, he stopped. He just let himself enjoy the feel of her breasts against his face. "Gabi…"

She ran her hands through his hair as he pressed his face into her chest. She knew he was getting a feel of her breasts. Truth was she was insanely turned on by the idea of his mouth that close to her tits. "Troy?"

He leaned back a little, "Yeah?"

"Screw the fucking lessons, take my clothes off me."

His eyes widened. He fought the urge to rip her clothes off her as requested. He knew that she only had a vague idea of what she was asking. He'd gotten her riled up and it had been four weeks since he'd been here last. Since they didn't do anything at school, she'd been cut off as much as he had.

"Troy," she softly questioned.

He came out of his revere for moment, "Yeah, baby?"

She smiled down at his glazed over face. "Where were you just now?"

Troy shook his head, "Nowhere, here. I just—I want your clothes off you so bad, but baby, we're not there yet. We will be. I intend to get you at least partially naked tonight, but if I rip your clothes off now, I'm not going to move slow. 'Cause I want you bad right now." He licked his suddenly very dry lips. "God, I want you bad," he said as he buried his face back into her chest.

"Troy, I need you…" she moaned. The feel of him right there was killing her.

He caved. Just before he laid her down on the couch, he pulled her shirt up over her head. He slid his hands down her skin. He felt every inch of her now exposed body. He kissed his way from her mouth down toward her breasts. He couldn't have them in his mouth, yet. He still needed to teach her how to use her tongue much less him using his on her. He groaned. "God, you're so fucking unbelievable. Gabi…" She had the softest skin, and her breasts were perfect mounds gently held by the black lace bra he'd managed to leave on her. His hands trailed down her smooth, soft, firm abdomen to the edge of her jeans. He dipped his fingers into the waist of her jeans. He slid his hands back around her just after he ripped his own shirt up over his head. He held her tightly against his chest, kissing her mouth, her face, any skin he could get to really.

Instinctively she spread her legs and felt him settle in on top of her. She suddenly realized that she was in nothing but a bra and blue jeans with Troy in nothing but his khaki shorts on top of her. She took a deep breath. "Troy?"

Troy stopped himself. He heard the change in the tone of her voice. He leaned up to her ear, "Yes?"

She tried to swallow her nerves, but she just couldn't, "I—uh, I—"

Troy dropped his head down beside hers. He kissed her shoulder then sat himself up. He pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He kissed the top of her head. "I know. It's okay. I'm just—I'm craving it right now, baby. It's not an excuse. It's just what I'm feeling."

She leaned against his flesh. She gently traced circles on his skin. She slowly placed one kiss, then another and another along his chest. She felt her heartbeat quicken again. She tilted her head up and kissed the base of his neck. Tentatively she used her tongue to lightly lick a small patch of skin. She felt his body convulse with shivers. She saw the goose bumps rise all over his skin. She smiled and leaned back up to his neck. She kissed and licked her way up his skin to the place just below his ear lobe that Kelsi had told her about. Troy groaned under her lips.

"Jesus, where the hell did you learn that?"

She smiled to herself. "I have my sources, but I'll never tell," she whispered into his ear.

He slid his hand to the back of her head. "Gabi, that's making me extremely hard, baby."

She closed her eyes and tried not to react, but her stillness queued him into her reaction.

"Baby, we can stop right here. This is way more than I'd actually intended to do with you tonight. I mean don't get me wrong, I love it. I'd give you more if I thought you really wanted it and could handle it, but we should stop. Okay?"

She nodded against the side of his head. "Yeah." She curled back down into his arms. "I just—God, I missed you." She pressed herself a little closer to his body. "So much…I didn't realize until you were here and we were kissing and…"

Troy smiled as he rested his chin in her hair. "Yeah, me too."

She laughed, "I sound like a love sick girl."

He laughed, "As opposed to what? You are a girl."

She playfully punched his side as she pulled back to teasingly glare at him. "So what if I am a girl?"

He raised his eyebrows, "Oh, there's no doubt about it." He chuckled as he nuzzled his lips up to her neck again, "I checked." He lightly brushed his hands over her tits and felt her bend forward involuntarily. He smiled as he pressed another kiss to her neck. "God, you're so cute." He lightly nipped at her skin some more. They were both laughing and teasing each other here and there. As Troy leaned back up, he noticed exactly how well he'd marked her skin earlier in their making out. That mark wasn't going away tonight or tomorrow. He grimaced slightly. "Damn, uh, you should probably take a look at your neck. I might have been a little too aggressive earlier."

She quickly laid her fingers over the spot that she could still feel where he'd driven her crazy for several moments. She jumped up and headed for the half bath off the kitchen. "Oh shit."

Troy came around the side of the doorframe. "I'm sorry." He slid his hands along her hips around to the front of her body successfully closing her into his arms again. He kissed the back of her shoulder where it leads into her neck. "I was just so—you just tasted so good." He nuzzled his chin up onto the shoulder he'd just kissed and readjusted his arms around her. "Are you mad at me?"

She looked from her neck to his face in the mirror. She let out a small laugh. She turned around in his arms. "Let me get this straight?" she smirked, "Troy Bolton, East High Golden Boy, Basketball Captain, and ladies man, not only ran to me as soon as his dad let him free tonight, he also did things to me no one else has even made me want to do, _AND_ he managed to leave his mark on my body. God," she teasingly shook her head, "whatever will I do? I mean, I should just bite his head off for wanting me like that. I mean seriously! A teenage guy showing that kind of intensity with a girl, it's just shocking."

Troy laughed at her exceedingly sarcastic tone. "You're a smart ass and I never knew it!"

She smiled at him through the mirror. "Just with my friends," she teased.

He felt something in his chest deflate a little. He didn't show it, or explain it, but something in him didn't want to be relegated to "friend" status. He chuckled and kissed her shoulder without meeting her eye in the mirror or directly. "Yeah, just after you get comfortable, huh?"

She nodded, "Exactly."

He kissed her again. There was desire in her eyes. It had been another two weeks since they'd had any time together. Troy was finding it harder and harder to stay away from her at school. He had caved this morning. He'd brought her up to his "secret" hiding place. They were gripping each other's clothes in their fists. He knew she wanted this as bad as he did right now. As he released her lips, he put his forehead against hers. "God…" he sighed again, "you're as addicting as cocaine."

She looked at him with an odd expression. "What?"

He chuckled, "It's just that you're so sweet. I want to kiss you when you say things like you did this morning. It was all I could do in homeroom to keep from smiling and pulling you into my arms."

She looked at him slightly confused and more than a little amused. "I don't even remember what I said."

"You said I have a nice ass."

She scoffed, "I did not!"

He laughed, "No, I'm sorry, you wouldn't say it like that. You told Taylor that you liked my butt."

She blushed, "You were listening to that?"

He nodded and placed another kiss on her lips.

"Easedropper."

He laughed lightly again. It was so easy to smile around her. When she wasn't being as cute as she was right now, she was doing something sexy that turned him on. There had been times the other night when he'd just looked at her concentrating with her homework on her lap that had been cute. He'd found himself doing things like kissing her forehead when he got up to go to the kitchen, or touching her shoulder as he walked passed her to the bathroom. He'd had a hard time resisting the urge to go to her locker in the morning for a kiss.

He wasn't really a kissing guy. There were lots of girls who'd kissed him in the past. There were more than a lot who would be happy to right now, but he knew if he went up to Gabriella she'd look at him strangely, so he didn't. He was beginning to wonder if his feelings for her were more than he'd thought. Sure he'd missed "his girl" while he'd been grounded. He'd missed _all_ girls while he'd been grounded. But, there was something nagging at the back of his brain that he couldn't seem to work out lately. It was there and he just couldn't seem to find the right words to explain it, even to himself. "Can I come over tonight?" he whispered.

She nodded gently without disconnecting their foreheads. "I was going to leave a note in your locker that my parents are out of town for a few days."

He kissed her forehead. "Why do they leave you alone so much, Gabi?"

She pressed her cheek against his chest as she felt his arms draw her into him. "It's just their job. They don't have any control over where their boss sends them. They're his best team."

Troy shook his head. "It's not safe for you to be by yourself so much."

She shook her head, "You come over and Taylor comes over sometimes and Kelsi. I'm not actually by myself all that much."

He looked down at her, "Yeah, but I have to leave at night to go home. Anything could happen."

She smirked, "Are you worried about me?" She was teasing him.

"No, I just like our little arrangement. It would suck if something happened to you."

She giggled against his chest slightly. Quietly inside she was enjoying the idea of him being concerned. And judging by the tone in his voice, she wasn't sure she believed his denial. She stood on her toes to place a quick kiss to his lips. "I have to get to fourth before I'm late."

He kissed her again, "Why do you have to be such a good girl?"

She smiled, "Because it's just part of who I am." She grinned and gave him a very flirtatious look as she turned to walk back downstairs.

Little did she know, that look left him with a major hard-on.

Six weeks later…

"No, what I want is my baby girl over here, half naked, and in my arms." Troy's eyes were locked on Gabriella's from across the room.

She raised one eyebrow and smirked before saying, "And you think that sad line is going to get me half naked?"

He grinned, "Well, that depends."

"On what?"

"On whether or not you intend to let me touch you tonight."

Gabriella shook her head and narrowed her eyes. "Isn't that kind of the point of you being here?" She said quietly. She was looking back down at the food she was preparing.

Troy walked up behind her and gently slipped his arms around her waist. He stilled her hands and whispered in her ear, "Please, Gabriella, let me touch you, kiss you, and maybe if I'm a good enough boy, let me make you scream for me? Please, baby girl?" He kissed the side of her neck with a few soft kisses. "I want to please you tonight." He ran his finger tips along her skin just above the waist of her jeans. "I want to taste you."

Gabriella felt a shiver run down her spine at his words. She'd been growing impatient with their lessons. It almost seemed like he had been making excuses to not touch her lately. They'd started back up after his grounding and moved fast through the few sessions after, but now it felt like he was looking for ways to slow this down. It seemed as though he didn't want to touch her anymore, like he was trying to avoid her, but when they would kiss she could swear that she felt him urging for more. It was odd she thought, for him to push her away and beg for her at the same time.

Troy stood there with her silent in his arms. He'd spent every excuse he could come up with to wait for this. He hadn't wanted to move them too far, too fast yet. He wanted it so bad. Truth was his dick wanted inside of her, but he had been trying to wait. He'd been trying to keep from moving here, because he knew he was falling for her. He'd known he was falling fast and hard before the grounding and he'd missed her so much during the punishment, but now, he knew when he finally managed some form of sex with her, she'd have him by the balls and there'd be nothing he could do about it. She'd have him so addicted to her, so in love with her, he wouldn't be capable of walking away. He knew it was going to happen. So, he'd waited, hoping beyond hope that she'd say something about feelings or that he could get his own under control. But, he'd used all of his excuses.

He pressed another kiss to her skin, "So, what do you say? Should we get to work, baby girl?"

She swallowed hard. "Um…I—uh,"

He smiled against her skin. "We don't have to if you don't want to it's just what's next. Sex, I mean. Oral first, then maybe next time we can try actual sex of one position or another. I figure there are a few basic ones I should show you." He purred that last part into her ear, letting his breath drift across her ear. "Baby? You still breathing?"

She took in a deep breath. "I am now. Thanks." She leaned back against his body and allowed his arms to close in around her more firmly. She'd never say it out loud, but when he touched her like that she wanted to melt for him. She wanted to beg him to touch her or fuck her, because the feel of his arms around her was enough to take away all her inhibitions or worries. When he closed the space between them, she wanted to give him a piece of herself in a way she'd only ever fantasized about before him.

He pulled her closer to him and felt a tension in his chest ease. There was something about her pressed into him that made him relax. He'd had several girls in various ways, but there was just nothing like the easy way she let him wander his hands over her body or kiss her in places that should have made a sweet girl like her blush. He never managed to expect her next move.

He was roaming her body with his fingers, but his arms had her crushed back against his front. He had access to everything he wanted to touch and he took advantage of that access. He kissed her neck and nibbled her skin when she started softly moaning for him. He pulled her breasts out of her tank top. They were perky enough that he had just pulled the top down beneath her tits and pulled the cups of the bra down the same way. When he had a good view of her chest and had played with her nipples a little, he ran his right hand down her stomach and unbuttoned the top of her jeans. He continued playing with her chest and kissing her neck. Once the jeans were open enough, he slipped his hand down into her panties and felt more wetness than he'd ever imagined. She was more than ready for him. He felt his hips thrust against her ass in response to the temptation her wet pussy was putting him through. He groaned against her skin. "MMMmmm…Gabriella…"

She smiled and reached a hand back to his front. She slipped her hand along the front of his pants. She found the hard-on and began stroking it through his jeans. His groan made her want him that much more. She'd never had a hard dick between her legs, but she knew instinctually that his hard cock was exactly what she wanted. "Troy…God, this is so…"

He turned her in his arms. Face-to-face now, he planted a wet, needy, passionate kiss to her lips. He licked her lips begging for entrance. When she granted it, he thrust his tongue into her mouth. He wanted to be thrusting his dick into her, but this would have to do. He felt her hands playing with the edge of his pants as though she was trying to get him as naked as he'd managed to get her. He grasped her hips and lifted her onto the counter beside him. It was the small bar. She laid back on it, literally displaying herself for him. He wanted to climb on top of her and claim what he already thought of as his, but he didn't. He leaned down and slid her jeans free from her ankles. She was naked for him now, naked and laid out like a gift for him to play with.

As she laid there, her insides were burning with desire. She wanted him between her legs. She wanted his hands all over her. She wanted to feel his mouth caressing her in so many very dirty ways. She let her legs slide farther open when he pulled her jeans off completely. She should have been self-conscious of being naked, but right now, she just didn't care. She wanted him to see her. She wanted him to want her naked.

He ran his hand from her neck down between her breasts along her stomach to the soft core of her body. He played with her clit briefly before pulling his fingers away. He began kissing her legs along the inside. He started at her knee and worked his way upward until he was left with her very wet pussy in front of him. He ran his index finger along her pussy from top to bottom. He followed his finger with his tongue. As soon as his tongue had touched her, she had jerked up. If he hadn't been expecting it, it could have been very bad, but he knew that his tongue was going to force a reaction out of her.

He pulled back and waited for her to calm down. He smiled as he watched her slow her moves and steady breathing begin to return. He pressed a kiss to the crease between her core and her thigh. "Shhh…"

She groaned and moved trying to get closer to his mouth. "Troy…"

"You want me to do something, baby?"

"Kiss me."

"Kiss you where?"

"Troy…"

"Gabriella?"

"Please…"

"Tell me what you want, Gabriella."

"Kiss my pussy, taste me—" she was cut off by the intensity of the feeling of his mouth and tongue licking and kissing her core. She moaned and threaded her fingers through his hair. "Oh God, yes!"

His mouth devoured the flesh before him. He couldn't believe how badly he wanted to take her. He'd craved pussy on several occasions. He'd even fucked a number of girls for the sheer pleasure of getting off inside pussy, but this left it all to shame. He wasn't even sure he _could_ contain himself. The taste of her juices and the way she was begging him and moaning and moving. The way she was displayed out in front of him was so hard to resist he was holding on by the barest thread imaginable. He'd give anything, absolutely anything in the world to just stand up and bury his cock inside this warm, wet, begging pussy. He groaned against her as he licked and kissed her soft, soaked clit.

The feel of his groan against her sensitive and extremely stimulated organ shoved her over the edge. She screamed his name, "TROY! OH GOD!" She held his head as she came hard against his mouth. When his strokes began to make her flinch, she pushed lightly against his head, bringing his mouth just a little farther away from her body. She breathed heavily in an attempt to calm her body. Now she realized that she was completely naked mostly lying on her kitchen counter in front of Troy. "Oh my god…that was…oh my god."

Troy smiled. He knew she was spent, but his body was craving her so bad. He leaned up over her. "Feeling good, baby?"

She nodded quietly as she regained her breathing. "Troy?"

He grasped her hips with his hands and pulled her body to his. Once she was closer, he wrapped his arms around her torso. Before he answered her, he kissed along her collar bone up to her neck. He sighed and placed one more kiss to her bare skin. "Yeah?"

She swallowed hard.

He could feel the tension in the air building as her mind cleared itself of the heavy fog that her lust had consumed.

"I…"

He heard the fear in her voice again. Each time, they did something new. Each time, he touched her or kissed her more or differently. Each time, he heard her get scared of him again. He wished there was some way to make that all go away. He wanted something to tell her or something to explain that no matter what he showed her next, he wasn't going to hurt her with it. "It's okay, Gabriella. I know." He hadn't meant for the disappointment to be evident in his voice, but he couldn't hold it in. He was going to have blue balls from this encounter. It was starting to hurt when she doubted him. "I'll be right back. I'm just going to get your shirt, okay?"

She felt really guilty. She knew he was disappointed, but she didn't know why. She was confused and embarrassed that she'd let all of this happen. She'd wanted him so bad, but she had no claim to him. He could leave here and go to Sharpay's and get the pussy he was looking for. Hell, he could go anywhere and get everything he wanted and more. She felt tears flow to her eyes as the realization sunk in again that she was just his play toy and she wouldn't even be that for much longer. The first of the tears slipped down her face as she tried to cry quietly. She wouldn't sob in front of him. She couldn't tell him that she was sorry for whatever she'd done to disappoint him. She couldn't beg him to stay or to wait for her to be ready. He was doing exactly what she'd asked him to, and if she was getting too wrapped up in feelings then that was her own crap to work through, not his.

Troy sighed to himself as his mind continued to replay the images that mimicked the actions they'd just completed. He wanted her so bad, but it didn't matter. He was here to do a job. If he wanted action there were plenty of other girls who would willingly do whatever he wanted. He could probably fuck Sharpay in front of the entire student body and get nothing but cheers. He rounded the corner of the counter that separated the living room from the kitchen with her shirt in his hand. As he got closer, he heard her sniffle. He looked up and was a little shocked to see her trying to hide tears. "Gabi, what's wrong?" He moved slowly, almost deliberately. "Gabriella, come on, what's the matter?"

She turned that much farther away from him. God, she had to pull it together. "Nothing. It's nothing."

Troy reached for her. He tried to meet her eyes, but she kept avoiding his gaze. "Baby, did I hurt you? It's just you and me here, so if I did something, you can tell me. Please?"

"Nothing. I told you, it's nothing."

He could still see the fresh tears rolling down her skin. He wiped one away with the hand he'd managed to get onto her face. "If it wasn't me, then it must've been something you were thinking about—" He stopped as it occurred to him that she'd asked for help with the physical stuff…maybe she had already had someone in mind and every time he made her finish she'd be imagining that guy and be disappointed and ashamed when she looked up and saw Troy.

His heart sank. He felt it land somewhere around his gut. His eyes threatened to spill the pain in the form of his own tears. He slid his hand away from her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make it worse for you." He pulled back and put her shirt on her lap. He walked away suddenly. He fastened his pants and reached for his shirt as he headed very quickly for the door. He couldn't look at her right now. She'd made him fall in love with her and it wasn't even him she wanted to look at much less love back. He grabbed his keys and left without another word. As the door closed, his heart did too.

She broke down into a heart wrenching fit of tears. The pain inside her now was too much to handle. He'd left her here naked on the counter. He'd gotten what he was after and hadn't even said goodbye. She curled up and balled so hard it hurt her physically.

Later, when the pain in her head from all the crying had been too much, she had picked herself up off the counter, slipped her shirt over her naked body, and found the strength to make it back to the couch. She curled into yet another ball and tried desperately to think of anything except Troy Bolton. Eventually, her exhausted body had pulled her into fitful dreams of a blue eyed god who didn't seem to know she existed, but whose eyes could melt her very soul.

The next morning she rolled off the couch as her alarm went off. School mornings were the worst. Then it hit her again like a soul-torturing enigma. She looked at the counter and remembered everything from the night before, including after Troy had left her. She broke down into a fresh torrent of tears. She went to the refrigerator and made an executive decision, no school for Gabriella Montez today…she was calling in sick. She reached into the freezer, procured the chocolate ice cream and meandered back to the couch. She reached for the remote control and for the first time in days, she turned on the television. She watched some 1980's movie she'd never heard of before followed by Independence Day. She was fine right up until the end when all the couples are together again and happy. That was the saddest part for her. Bring on the aliens, just leave out the kissing.

Troy mercilessly beat his alarm clock. The last thing he wanted was to walk into school and see her pining over some ridiculously worthless nerd who couldn't possibly know how amazing she was. He tried to block his imagination as it created image after image of her drooling over some other guy. He groaned, but rolled himself out of bed and stepped into his shower. After a very fast shower, he grabbed his nearest basketball t-shirt and the nearest blue jeans. He ran a comb through his hair, a toothbrush over his teeth, and headed downstairs for breakfast.

"He's my son too, Lucille and I'm telling you, it's past time for him to get his ass in gear! These grades have to come up or it's not going to matter how good his is at basketball, he's not going to get into college!"

Troy sighed as he heard his father getting upset with his grades again. Mid-term reports must have been handed out to the coaches yesterday. He dropped down from the last step of the stairs and looked down the hall toward the kitchen. He changed his mind, grabbed his backpack and keys, and headed for the door. Just as he was stepping through it he heard, "Get those grades up, Troy!" He nodded, waved, and jumped into his truck.

He walked into homeroom with one of the worst feelings he could ever remember. He felt like his heart and soul had been ripped from his body and he'd been left just enough alive to move. He rounded the corner and looked up. She wasn't there. He straightened up and realized he hadn't seen her by her locker either. He sat down and pulled out his cell phone. He started to send her a text, but stopped when he remembered that she wasn't his girl, she was someone else's girl and he was just a stand-in.

Second, Third, Fourth, Lunch all passed without so much as a whisper of her scent anywhere. He finally meandered up to the rooftop and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed her number and waited through the ringing. After the fourth ring, he heard her voice in the sound of the recording. He left a message for her to call him if she got a chance, and hung up.

He wanted to scream. He loved her. He was worried about her, but he couldn't do anything about it. She had asked for no strings attached. Why was it that the one time he easily got what he wanted, all play, no strings, he couldn't stop wanting to be tied to her? _Gabriella, oh god, baby…I love you so much. Please just tell me you're okay._ His mind wandered back to last night. He'd left so abruptly. He'd never actually gotten an answer from her, but he couldn't possibly fathom what other thought could take her from ecstasy to tears so quickly. He turned and punched one of the pots sitting on the shelves next to him. "Damn it!"

Gabriella laid in a miserable heap on her family's couch. Her parents wouldn't be home for days and she couldn't tell her friends what had her hurting so bad. So, she decided to just wait out the heartache. They always say that time heals a broken heart, right? She rolled over and noticed the light flashing at the end of her phone that let her know she had messages waiting. She expected to see the texts from Taylor, but the voicemail from Troy had shocked her. She sighed as her mind wandered to a worst case scenario, _probably just wants to make sure I won't tell anyone about our little arrangement._ She felt the tears well up again. So, she dropped the phone and went back to the television.

Troy went down to the nurse's office to get his cut knuckles looked at. He didn't actually think that they were broken, but they'd bruised to a rather intense shade of purple in the last several minutes. _Great! Now on top of being miserable, I have to explain to dad why I can't dribble with my right hand for a while._ He sighed and held the ice pack over it. Once the swelling had gone down, the nurse said she'd probably be able to check for broken bones and the such. She'd given him a very stern look when he'd told her how he'd managed to hurt the hand. Troy figured she probably didn't believe him.

Gabriella watched as Renee Zelwiger screamed at Tom Cruise. She felt tears rolling down her cheeks when the same actress very emotionally stated, "You had me at hello." Gabriella's mind immediately began to replay the evening when she'd been putting his clothes into the washer and Troy had so gently and quietly whispered into her ear, "God, you're cute." Her only response had been, "Why? What did I do wrong?" He laughed softly. "Nothing. I just realized you're the only one who's ever done that right."

The memory made her ache inside. The thought of him that close and that patient with her was so heart breaking now that she almost wished it had never happened, almost. She shut the movie off and rolled over to face the back of the couch. As she did, she happened to catch a whiff of Troy. She closed her eyes and inhaled the spot on the couch where his cologne seemed to have rubbed off. It hurt and healed at the same time. She missed him. He'd left her lying naked on a counter, he had no right to be missed, but she missed him all the same.

Troy dropped his head as his father yelled. "You did what?" The older man ran a hand through his hair much the way Troy did when he was frustrated. "I'm going to have to ground you for the rest of the season just to keep you from destroying yourself over all these damn girls! Jesus, Troy, what were you thinking?"

Troy shrugged, "I don't know."

His dad wasn't satisfied with that response. "Oh, I don't know isn't going to get you out of this. Try again."

"I was jealous, okay? I'm pissed because she's using me to get to another guy. She just wants me to—you know what, forget it! Just forget the whole damn thing! I'm jealous! The girl I love, loves somebody else and it pisses me off!"

His father pressed his lips firmly together. He'd seen the pain in Troy's eyes last night when he'd returned from wherever he'd been. He'd wondered if Troy and Gabriella had had another misunderstanding, but he'd brushed it off when Troy had been alright this morning. He noticed as Troy yelled back at him that his son was genuinely miserable. He tried not to smile as he realized his son had just mimicked his own actions from years before the boy was born, except Jack had punched the other guy. "I know how that feels," he said with very different tone of voice. "So, you punched a potted plant?"

Troy nodded. He looked back up to find his dad beginning to laugh. It wasn't funny, but it was somehow. Troy smiled when he thought about it. Of all the things and people around, Troy had hit a potted plant. He laughed now too. "It seemed logical at the time."

Troy's dad laughed a little harder. They both sat on a bench laughing riotously over a potted plant.

Chad approached Taylor. "Hey…"

Taylor ignored him, "Don't even speak to me."

Chad sighed, "I didn't know, okay? I didn't believe you because I honestly thought Troy would tell me if something was going on with them!"

Taylor glared at him. "Just because we aren't public knowledge doesn't mean that other people won't be too."

Chad looked at her oddly, "That doesn't even make sense."

She narrowed her eyes further, "You know exactly what I mean."

He smiled, "So, can we call a truce?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. "I suppose, but only if you tell me what it is that you're scheming."

He smiled, "You know me too well, my dear."

She tried to hide the smile, "Well, what is it?"

He grinned and placed his hands on her hips from behind. He pulled her back against him. "I guess you'll just have to close your locker and come with me to find out."

She smiled wider now. "Bastard."

He laughed, "Nice try, but I know exactly who my daddy is and so does my mommy."

She rolled her eyes and followed him out to his car.

Gabriella let the tears fall into the pillow below her head. She was tired of crying all ready, but she knew that the pain wasn't going to go away that easily. She jumped when her phone nearly shook itself off of the coffee table again. She picked it up without looking, "What!"

Troy sighed, "Why didn't you come to school today?"

"Because I didn't feel like it."

He grimaced at her tone. "Well, I just wanted to make sure you weren't alone and sick or something."

"I'm not, like you'd really care," the not-quite-venom in her voice was all she was capable of at the moment.

"Hey, I call to check on you and you bite my head off? No wonder you can't get a boyfriend."

She scoffed, "Oh my god! Like you have room to talk. You didn't even say goodbye last night, Troy! I was naked and crying on the kitchen counter and you bolted faster than—than—whatever! You bolted that's what matters!"

"I left! That's what this is all about? God, Gabriella, excuse me if the realization that I'm so not what you want that seeing me makes you cry after a really intense moment makes me upset! You totally freaked out because I wasn't who you wanted to see after that! What the hell was I supposed to do? Call up your nerd boy and invite him over? What the fuck?"

"You're not even making any sense now! Do you think you could at least stick to the facts? Or, is that too much for your pathetic, heartless mind to keep up with?"

He clinched his fists again. "Damn you! All I did is what you wanted me to! If that's not enough for you then fuck you! Oh, wait, no! I guess in this case it's more like, I WON'T FUCK YOU!"

"WHO SAID I WOULD HAVE LET YOU!"

"Please! You haven't slowed me down from day one! I've been doing all kinds of things to you! I've gotten you off stripped naked in your own living room! You've been played with in every room of the house, except your bedroom! You might as well be a slut for some of the things you've let me do to you!"

Her crying was loud and clear over the phone. The hatred in her voice was clear as she softly said, "I hate you." After that, the phone went dead.

Troy hung his head and let the tears slide down his face. He punched his steering wheel several times with the heel of his hand. It hurt again, but right now any pain besides the whole in his chest felt better. Why did she have to be so difficult? Why couldn't she see that he couldn't stand the thought of her being with someone else? He'd said it at the beginning and she hadn't denied that she was using him to get to some other nerd. He let the tears fall for a few seconds more before leaning back up and driving home. He needed a basketball and his backyard court.

Jack looked out the back window. He'd been out there for hours. He knew that the kid had to be hurting in more ways than one, because he'd been shooting even with a hurt hand. Jack had left him out there because he figured that Troy probably needed to blow off some steam pretty badly to be pushing himself this hard. But, enough was enough, it was dark and well past time for Troy to come into the house. "Troy! Get in here!"

Troy shook his head. He turned and dribbled the ball between his legs and spotted himself for another shot. Jack walked out to the court, "I don't know what's got you this worked up, but you're grades are what need this kind of commitment now, not your jump shot."

Troy rolled his eyes. "Screw the grades," was all he said. He dribbled back out to the free throw line and took a quick shot.

Jack stole the ball just after it swished. "No, screw the girls and all this melodrama. The grades aren't to blame for your issues. Whatever happened between the time we talked before practice and when I got home can either be discussed or it can be set aside. But, either way, you will be working on your homework for the rest of the night."

Troy rolled his eyes. "Fine." He turned to head up to the house.

Jack yelled after him, "And take a damn ice pack with you! That hand is going to be killing you later."

Gabriella refused to answer the door. Unfortunately, Taylor knew where the key was hidden. "I didn't want company, Taylor."

The dark skinned girl rolled her eyes, "Well that's just too bad, isn't it?"

"No, because you're going to turn around and leave now."

Taylor smiled, "Nope, but I will help you figure out what to wear to Chad's party tomorrow night. By the way, you've already RSVPed, not that it's going to be that kind of party."

Gabriella sighed and shook her head, "I'm not really in the mood for a party, Tay. Much less some excuse for drinking that Chad Danforth will be throwing."

Taylor grinned, "Great! Let's go pick out what you're going to wear!" She pulled Gabriella into her closet and started searching for something that was going to make Troy's jaw drop before his eyes had even finished looking over a Latina princess.

Gabriella shrugged, "Taylor, I'm serious. I'm not going. I hate these things anyway. What could possibly make you think I'd want to go?"

Taylor turned and looked at her with pity. "I know, Gabriella. I know that you and Troy have had something going for months now. I know that the reason you didn't show up to school today is because he broke your heart somehow. I don't know what he did, but I know that when you show up tomorrow you're going to make him wish he'd never hurt you in anyway."

Gabriella's eyes filled with tears. "Trust me, Tay. There's absolutely nothing that I have to offer that Troy would be remotely interested in after yesterday." She broke down into tears again, "he called me a slut, Taylor." She cried again as her friend wrapped her arms around her and led her to the floor of her closet. "All I did was fall in love with him."

Taylor hugged her closer. "Don't worry, Gabs. He's gonna pay."

Gabriella shook her head. "I don't want to love him anymore. I want it to go away."

Taylor rubbed her back gently. "I know, sweets. Men are pigs."

Gabriella nodded against her friend's shoulder.

Troy fought with every math problem on his homework set. He wrote and rewrote every line of the essay that was due. Then sometime around 11:30 pm, he slammed his chemistry book shut because all he kept thinking was, _Gabi could teach me_.

He picked up his phone and pressed the button that was speed dial to Gabriella. When there was no answer, only voicemail, he left a message. "Look, I'm an asshole, okay? You knew that going into this. I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm sorry I left you like that last night. It—it just hurt me really bad, Gabi. It hurt a lot—" The beep signaled the end of his allotted time. He sighed, ran a hand through his hair, and shook his head. He shut his phone and went into his bathroom for a relaxing hot shower.

When he got out he found a message from Chad. "So, dude, it's been a crazy week. I hear potted plants are under attack. (Chad laughed) So, my 'rents are outta' town this weekend, and I'm throwin' a kick ass party tomorrow night. Hot ladies, some alcohol, and any guy could get lucky, right man? K, see you in the mornin', dude. Later."

Troy rolled his eyes. Maybe Chad was right, maybe a little frivolous action might get him back to normal. He climbed in bed and realized his dad was all too right, his hand was killing him. He reached over and grabbed the discarded ice pack and gently placed it on his hand. He fell asleep with it there.

Gabriella had cried herself to sleep an hour ago. Taylor had picked out clothes for school and the party for her for tomorrow. Then, being the friend she was, Taylor had gone downstairs and cleaned up the mess Gabriella had been wallowing in all day. Taylor left her a note on her desk stating which outfit was for school and which was for the party. She told her what time she'd be by to pick her up in the morning for school and then again what time she'd pick Gabriella up for the party. She'd also left her friend the message that these things were always hard and lots of things were said that no one really meant. She told Gabriella that she was sure that later in life, they'd look back at this and smile. The last thing she'd left was a list of the homework and things she'd need for class the next day.

Gabriella woke up to the sound of her alarm. She felt very rested. She got up and found Taylor's note and the clothes it described. She smiled as she realized exactly how amazing Taylor really was. Gabriella climbed into her shower and got ready for her day. She didn't cry so much this morning, but it didn't make that hole in her chest feel any better either.

Troy was late, again. He tried to dry off too fast and managed to slip on the tile floor. He'd landed on his hurt hand and cried out in pain. "Damn it!" He finally managed to get dressed but was frustrated when he saw the time. "I'm screwed." He grabbed his homework off his desk and stuffed it all into his backpack and rushed downstairs. He hurriedly grabbed an apple and a bottle of water before kissing his mom on the cheek and running out the front door to his truck.

They avoided each other as soon as one of them became aware of the other's presence. When Troy saw her in the hallway, he turned his back to her. When she noticed him in homeroom, she refocused on the make-up work in front of her. When he saw her coming out of her third period class, he turned down an unnecessary hallway and went the long way to fourth. When she saw him at lunch, she told the girls that she felt like some fresh air and they went out to the courtyard. So, by the time the day ended, they hadn't so much as met eyes let alone spoken to each other.

Troy bumped fists with Jason as he walked into the party that was already going. He smiled at one of the girls who had been flirting with him for a while now. She smiled teasingly back at him. Troy stepped into the kitchen of the Danforth's house and found his best friends laughing as they watched a group of girls dancing. Zeke was pointing out one he'd apparently set his eye on for the night and Chad seemed to be on the lookout for someone specific. Troy grabbed a beer and leaned against the counter. "So, who's lookin' doable tonight? 'Cause I've got an itch that's dying to be scratched."

Zeke bumped fists with him and Chad just laughed. "Dude, nice to see you back to yourself. We were just thinking maybe you'd been lost to some whipped pussy club."

Troy looked at him like he was crazy. "What the hell, dude? Who's got me whipped?"

Zeke cleared his throat and Chad pointed toward the door. "There's my girl now!" He took a couple steps and Troy heard him holler out, "Hello ladies! Right this way!"

Troy nearly lost his beer when he saw the tight, unbelievably sexy dress Taylor must have poured Gabriella into. What made his heart pound mercilessly was the way her sweetness mixed with her sexiness and her confidence and made her the single most enticing thing in a hundred miles. Every guy but Chad had stared at her ass or her chest or some piece of her that they were favoring at the moment. Troy wanted to punch a few of the guys for trying to smack her ass or whistling at her. Instead, he sat there rooted to his place on the counter.

Chad led Taylor by the hand who led Gabriella by the hand through the dancers and into the kitchen. Troy swallowed and tried to keep his calm as he stared at her.

Chad brought them up to Zeke and Troy. "So, now that I've got my girl and Zeke's picked out his conquest for the night, what're you gonna choose, dude?"

Troy looked over Gabriella. His heart pounded. He wanted her. He wanted her bad. He glanced around the room. He spotted the girl from earlier. "Don't know, haven't been here long enough to decide how many I'm gonna do yet."

Chad shrugged, "Fine with me, man. You know where the condoms are."

Zeke laughed, "Yeah, he's the one who has to keep refilling the stash."

Troy gave Zeke a high five before leaning up and brushing past Gabriella. If she was going to tease him tonight, two could play at that game. He walked over to the girls he knew would be more than happy to shower him with attention and pulled one girl out onto the dance floor.

Gabriella had watched him and every other guy stare her down. She'd seen his dick get hard in his pants. Other girls may have felt him good and hard, but Gabriella knew the sight well enough to know when something got to him. She'd felt a huge rush of hope just before he'd brushed past her. She seen from the corner of her eye that he'd walked up to a group of girls who were fawning at his approach. She narrowed her eyes as she watched him pull some slut out onto the dance floor and begin to grind his body into hers. It was clear what he was out for tonight.

She rolled her eyes and put on some mental armor. If he wanted a fight, she'd make him believe every foul word he'd said to her last night, just because she could. She grabbed Zeke's hand and very slowly smiled, "Would you mind dancing with me? I don't usually, but I'm feeling the need to try new things." She blinked a couple of times as she tried to look as sweet as possible.

Zeke raised his eyebrows and couldn't believe how incredibly entrancing Montez's chocolate brown eyes could be. "Sure. Let me show you…" He led her out and placed his hands on her hips from behind and started swaying her hips to the same sweet motion. Once she had it down, he let his hands roam a little, just to see. Before the song was over, there was a very firm hand cutting off the circulation to his fingers from his wrist.

Troy stared at Zeke like a man possessed.

Zeke took a step back, "Dude, if you wanted to call dibs, you should have said—" He hit the floor. His other hand came up and checked his lip for blood. Sure enough, his fingers showed a small bit of blood. He stood back up. "What the hell, man?"

Troy glared at him. "Keep your goddamn hands off of her!"

Zeke raised his palms in retreat. "Fine. God! What the hell got into you?"

Everyone at the party had frozen. Everyone was watching Troy and Zeke fighting over Montez of all girls. As Zeke started to turn away, whispers started flying around the room. Gabriella stood shocked and very still at the edge of the circle that had formed around the two boys.

She reclaimed her senses and stepped up to Troy. She smacked him across the face. She turned to walk out after Zeke only to hear Troy yell, "He was trying to feel you up! Or did you like that!" She spun on her heel and glared at him hatefully. "He was doing exactly what I asked him to! He was showing me how to dance the way everyone else here seems to do! Of course, you wouldn't understand that! You're too damn busy fucking every girl in the room! Then again, I guess everyone has to be good at something, because God knows you're an idiot who doesn't know a good thing when he has it!" She turned and raced out the back door.

Troy stood angrier than he had ever been in the middle of a room full of people. Somebody started the music again and the party resumed around him. A couple of girls tried to pull him back into the dancing, but he shrugged them off and walked away. He grabbed another beer out of the fridge and stood up. Just as he got upright, Taylor struck him hard across the face. "I always knew you were an asshole, but seriously? Calling her a slut for falling in love with you has got to be a new low even for you!" Troy stood there dumbfounded. "What! She doesn't love anybody! She can't! She's not capable!"

Taylor shook her head, "Bull shit! She loves you!"

Troy stopped for a second as something in the back of his head fought its way to the surface. She'd been thinking, sitting there naked on her kitchen counter. She'd been naked waiting for him to come back with her shirt. "Shit!" He slammed his beer down and rushed out the back door. He frantically looked around for her. He couldn't see her, but he knew she'd come out this way. "Gabriella!" He looked around and caught her dark curls out of the corner of his eye. He headed that way.

She was determined to get the hell away from him. She'd find somebody else to teach her what she wanted, from the looks she got tonight, that wouldn't be too hard. Her heel caught in the ground again. "Stupid stilettos." She bent over to undo the fastenings and was rewarded with the sound of his voice.

"God, I never thought—Damn, baby, you really don't know how short that dress is, do you?"

She stood up and looked back at him. "Screw you. Go away! Why won't you leave me alone? You had no problems doing it two nights ago!"

Troy walked toward her hesitantly, one step at a time. "Gabi, baby, I'm so sorry. You're right. I'm a total idiot. I jumped to the wrong conclusion, baby. I'm so sorry."

She looked at him like he was some kind of mental patient. "What's wrong with you? Did somebody drug you, because you're acting very strange."

Troy smiled, "Leave it to you to know strange behavior."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Shut up!"

Troy shook his head, "No, no, I just meant—God! I can't—" He sighed. He looked up at her. "Tell me how you feel about me. I mean, really, do you like me? Do you want me? Do you love me, Gabi?"

She flinched like she'd been slapped. She looked down at her heels that were now firmly rooted into the ground. She sighed and tried to hold in the tears. "I hate you."

Troy's face fell. "I know. And I meant it when I said that I'm sorry, but Gabi I need to know deep down, how do you actually feel about me?" He took the last step and stood a few inches away from her.

"I don't know."

He smiled at the way her voice sounded five years old. "I think you do, baby. I need you to figure this out. I can't explain this to you, Gabi."

She looked back at his feet. She could feel his presence radiating in front of her. She desperately wished he would just wrap her in his arms and let her cry the rest of the pain away. "I don't want to—"

He sighed, "Gabriella, do you remember what I told you at the very beginning?"

"You said that this was one homework assignment that you didn't—"

Troy shook his head and smiled again, "No, I meant do you remember me telling you that no guy can read your mind. Do you remember me telling you that you have to tell me when things hurt or when you feel something you really like?"

She nodded. "I also remember you telling me that I don't ever have to do anything with any guy, ever. And since I hate you now, I don't want to do anything with you. So, you should really go back inside and get off in one of those girls who were so eager to give you exactly what you want."

He grasped her chin in his hand. He raised it so that they were looking into each other's eyes. "I don't want any of those girls, Gabriella."

She tried to look away, but couldn't. "Then I guess you always have your hand."

He smiled and slid his finger from her chin into her hair. "God, you're cute."

She felt the tears return. "Shut up! I don't know what made me think that I could do this, but I was crazy! You're way too used to getting sex without feeling anything and its way too easy for me to keep falling in love with you! This is stupid. I can't do it anymore! Go find one your stupid sluts and leave me alone, Troy!"

He stood there silent letting her rant die out. He leaned his forehead against hers. "You just said you love me."

She felt her chest send the most chilling chemical through her body. She was suddenly scared enough to cry the tears she'd been trying to hold in.

"Do you love me, Gabriella?"

She shook her head. She didn't trust her voice.

He kissed her forehead. "I wish you did, because I love you so much that it hurts."

She cried harder if that was possible. She clasped his shirt into her hands and cried into his chest so hard that she was giving herself another headache. She caught her breath for a moment. She realized in that moment that Troy had his arms around her. He was holding her upright because her knees had given out. She was sobbing into his body. She realized in that split second that Troy was crying too. "I—I lo—love you, t-too." She stuttered through a sobbing fit.

Troy smiled against her hair. "I know, baby. But, I never want you to stop telling me that, okay?"

She nodded against his chest. "I'm sorry."

He got her standing on her own two feet and then he bent down and unfastened her shoes. She stepped out of them and stood on her tip toes to wrap her arms around his neck. "I'm the one who needs to say I'm sorry, Gabriella. I was awful to you. And I don't want you to apologize, because you didn't do anything wrong."

"Yes I did. I lied to you."

He looked at her obviously confused. "What?"

"When you asked me what was wrong, I kept saying 'Nothing.' That was a lie. I was crying because I knew I did something that disappointed you and I knew you could go anywhere and get whatever it was I didn't know to do. I realized that I had no claim to you at all and then I got embarrassed that I'd let you do all those things to me, that I was lying there naked on the kitchen counter, and you didn't even love me."

"That's what made you cry?"

She nodded against his chest. "So, see, if I hadn't lied, we wouldn't have started this whole mess to begin with. So, it's not your fault. It's mine, and I'm so sorry."

Troy shook his head. "Baby, I think we both made some mistakes. How about we just chalk it up to miscommunication and promise to tell each other what we're thinking when it comes to big stuff like that. 'Cause I wouldn't have gone off the deep end if I'd just asked you who you love. I jumped to this stupid conclusion that you were using me to learn how to seduce some nerd you had the hots for. I was so fucking jealous that I made stupid mistake after stupid mistake all because of some figment of my imagination."

She smiled and leaned back. "You were jealous? Over me?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Baby, I just punched one of my best friends in the face over you. Yeah, baby, I was jealous."

She smiled the most heartfelt smile that had crossed her face in days. "I love you so much, Troy." She ran her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck.

He smiled back at her shining eyes, "I love you too, baby."

Her grin changed to a more teasing one. "When exactly did you start calling me 'baby'?"

He laughed, "I don't know. It just kind of felt right and then it was just how I thought of you as 'my baby'."

She kissed his lips quickly. "So, is there any chance that you'll ignore what I said earlier about going and getting some slut—"

"Gabriella, will you be my girlfriend? I mean, like my one and only, exclusive rights, sign me up for the long run kind of girlfriend?"

She nodded and smiled the biggest smile. "God, yes!"

He laughed, "So, it's official. I'm yours and you're mine. And, neither one of us have to worry that the other one will be with anyone else."

She nodded. "Sounds amazing."

"You managed to keep loving me even after I was a complete ass who didn't deserve your love, that's amazing, Gabriella."

She softly smiled at the sweetness in his voice. "I will always love you, Troy, always."

"God, I hope so. I don't think I can handle losing you again. I've already maimed myself." He raised his damaged right hand. "I broke one of the pots on the school roof top and then I landed on it this morning when I fell."

She gently caressed the hand. "Oh my god, Troy." She kissed it so softly he barely felt it. "You can't go around punching things."

He smiled at the scolding. "Yes, ma'am."

"I'm serious!"

He smiled a little wider. "Baby, I can't promise that I will never punch anything when we fight, but I can promise that it will never be you that I hit."

She nodded, "Okay."

He laid a kiss against her lips that was incredibly intense. His arms wrapped tighter around her as his body began to respond to the emotions running through his veins. Their kiss deepened to twisting, desperate tongues seeking the other's with a dying man's need.

Gabriella felt the intensity change and she loved the way Troy was being with her. She loved the way he was holding her just a little too tightly. She adored the way his mouth seemed to be over powering hers. She even immensely enjoyed the pressure of him pressing her into the side of the house just a little too tightly. She moaned her appreciation for his technique as she found a short burst of air. She managed a few seconds to breathe and speak when Troy moved his lips down her neck.

"God, you drive me insane, Troy. This feels soooooo good!" She spread her legs and allowed his hands to guide her body upward enough to wrap her legs around his waist. She'd seen it done before, but was shocked at how natural it felt. She groaned loudly when he began to press himself up toward her core. His still clothed penis was making itself known to her very wet, very excited pussy. "Please, Troy…God, please fuck me," she moaned against his neck.

He heard the pleading in her tone and inwardly reveled at the begging he heard. He wanted to please her now, right here, but he couldn't and he knew it. He had to calm himself enough to at very least get them upstairs to the quiet of a bedroom where he knew he had protection and space enough to savor her body beneath his. "Not right now," he groaned as his hips pressed up against her spread legs yet again. "Soon, baby." He stepped back and took her hand. He kissed her again. "I love you."

She smiled so gently at him with lust filled eyes, "I want you too."

He laughed, "Well then we should really do something about that, shouldn't we?"

She nodded her head up and down as she bit her lower lip.

Her innocent expression sent his body into overdrive. She was so enticing to him. He grinned mischievously, "Okay, we have to go upstairs _now_, or I'm going to take you right here."

Her face lit up, "I'm feeling like being very naughty. Do whatever you like, baby."

He gripped her body in his hands. His will power wilted significantly. "Upstairs. Now."

She smiled a very wicked smile. "Anything you say, teach." She giggled as she started toward the front of the house.

"Stop teasing me." He pulled her back to kiss her before letting her get a step ahead of him again.

"But, I thought you liked it when I tease you." She smiled sweetly. "At least, your penis seems to like it."

He grinned, "Come 'mere." He yanked her a little roughly into his arms. With more force than he'd ever used with her, he slammed her body into his. "I like it when you tease me. But, I'll love it when you fuck my brains out."

"Anything you want tonight, teach. _Anything_ you want. It's all on the menu."

Troy shook his head. "Baby, as much as I'd love to take you up on that, I promise you I will do everything I can to keep you from hurting."

She swallowed the fear that sprang into her thoughts. "Troy?"

He nuzzled his nose against her cheek. "Yes, baby."

"How much pain am I going to feel? Is it bad?"

He pressed a gentle kiss against skin. "I don't know, baby. It's different for every girl. It won't be excruciating."

She shuddered in his arms. "Okay."

He picked her up bridal style and carried her into the house and up the stairs. Several people stopped to stare at the gesture. The girls were upset with Troy's choice and the guys seemed envious of him. Gabriella didn't notice any of them, because she had her face buried in his neck. She was spreading kisses along his neck. He moaned as she sucked against his skin much the way he had marked her after his grounding.

Gabriella giggled against him as he laid her down on the soft bed. She was surprised to find pictures of him and Chad in several places in the room.

Troy laughed lightly. "His mom says I'm her other son. So, she keeps a room for me here. Complete with…" Troy reached into a draw and drew out a handful of condom wrappers. He chuckled at her surprised response.

"I figured you would have some, but I…" She seemed to be at a loss for words.

He dropped a couple on the top of the bed side table and put the rest in the drawer. He rolled himself over her body onto the bed beside her. He lowered one arm over her stomach and tucked the other under his head as he leaned on his right side with his front pressed to her side. He leaned over and kissed her lips. "I love you."

She smiled shyly beneath him. "Really?"

Troy's lips curved into a sweet smile. "Yes."

She grinned for him. "I love you too. Sooo much, too much."

His own grin turned up a notch as she said the words again. "What would you like me to do to you tonight?"

She grew shy again. She buried her face in his neck. "I don't know."

Troy ran his finger tips extremely lightly along every available piece of skin. He kissed the top of her head. "Should we start with gentle touches?"

She nodded her head.

He smiled into her hair. "What about soft kisses?" He placed a chaste kiss against her cheek, and then her temple, and finally her forehead. He lowered his mouth just over hers and waited for her to reach up and kiss his lips.

She waited a second and then two, but finally she pushed upward and firmly pressed her lips against his. "MMmmm…" She didn't release his head after the first lingering kiss. Instead, she separated her lips and pressed right back against his mouth. She hungrily pulled at his face and neck. When oxygen finally forced them apart, Gabriella laid her head back as Troy slid himself further down her side. She felt a wealth of overwhelming emotions. She loved what he was making her feel: arousal, love, safety. "Mmm…Troy."

He kissed down her neck. "I'm here, baby." He ran his hand across her breasts. He groaned against her skin. He pushed his other arm beneath her, effectively wrapping her body in his arms. He rolled back and pulled her on top of him. He went about enjoying his easy access. Her moaning and calling his name was filling him with more than just lust. He'd felt lust. This was satisfying in a very different way than just the physical pleasures. Something even better than he and Gabriella had had before.

She moved in a new way, before he could manage anything he was groaning beneath her body. She was working herself over top of him and it was bringing him enough pleasure that he could finish if she kept going. "Oh god, baby, if you keep that—" she pressed down perfectly. "Oh SHIT, GABRIELLA!"

She smiled and ground her core against him again. She looked down at him seductively, "Yes, baby?"

He grasped her hips forcefully. He lifted her just slightly off of his own hips. His teeth were grinding. "Baby, if you don't stop that, then this is going to end. And, damn it, I want inside you." His stare was intense and almost angry. "Correction," he said as he flipped them over and placed himself back on top of her. "I will be inside of you tonight." He smiled down at her a little easier. "You know, unless you tell me no at some point."

She rolled her eyes. "Quit teasing me. I want sex, Troy," she purred.

His smile turned lustful. "Then I supposed I need to teach you the final lesson, don't I?"

She nodded.

He trailed his finger tips down the side of her face. Their eyes were locked on each other. "Spread your legs for me, baby."

Her legs separated a few inches allowing him space to lie between them. He took the fingers from her face and ran them up her legs and began to push the bottom of her dress up to her waist.

She bit her bottom lip.

He smiled down at her. "Want me to stop?"

She shook her head.

He moved his hand to the edge of her panties and hooked his finger beneath the strings on the side. "We won't be needing these now will we?"

She grinned nervously as she shook her head.

He leaned back onto his knees and began pulling the panties down her thighs. He lifted one leg and slid the panties over her foot, then bent down to kiss along her leg as he pulled them down the other leg. When he sat back up, he saw her smiling again. He took the panties and slid them under the pillow next to them. "I'm going to need these later," he said with a smile.

She looked at him confused and then as realization dawned on her she rolled her eyes. "You're actually going to tell the guys?"

He shook his head. "Nope. I'm keeping those for myself, specifically for when I miss you."

She looked confused. "You're not going to tell the guys?"

He shook his head again, "They don't need to know anything about my baby when it comes to our sex life. You're mine. There's plenty of sex stories they've heard from me before. This one is all mine."

She smirked, "There's only going to be a story if you actually fuck me, Troy."

He looked down at her and narrowed his eyes before hopping off the bed.

She looked up at him confused. She watched as he stripped off his t-shirt and unzipped his pants, then kicked off his shoes. She watched as he walked back to the edge of the bed and pulled the zipper to her dress down and she allowed him to pull the dress off of her. All that was left between them now was her black lace bra and his boxer briefs.

He let his gaze travel down her beautiful body. Who would have known that trapped beneath that bookworm persona lay the single hottest girl he'd ever had the pleasure to touch. "Damn, baby, you are fucking unbelievable." He laid back down with the girl he'd been given the permission to claim as his own. "And, tonight you will be fucking me, only me." He whispered into her ear, "I love you…" With that soft admission, he slid himself inside of her. He felt her warm, wet opening stretch to accommodate his size. He waited for her breathing to return to normal. He'd felt her flinch and then her breath to begin coming in gasps as he'd entered her. He leaned down so that he was face to face with her again. "Baby? Are you okay?"

She took a deep breath and willed herself to relax. "It simultaneously feels painful and amazing." She groaned, "Can you move, just a little bit?"

He smiled down at her. "Just that much?" He had barely pressed forward at all.

She tilted her head back loving the feeling. "More…"

He gently pressed himself farther inside of her slowly. Once he was buried completely into her body, he slowly reversed his motion and felt her begin to move herself pulling back at a faster pace. He smiled even wider. "Need me to pick up the pace, baby?"

She bit her lower lip and nodded her head, never opening her eyes to see his smirk.

He pulled himself out and pressed back into her at a pace more to his liking. "Oh yeah…God, you're so damn tight."

She looked up at him. "Sorry."

He shook his head, "it's oh-my-god, so good, baby." He repositioned himself so that his thrusts were a little less gentle, but made him able to move faster and search for her spot. He pressed up to the front of her opening and found her spot inside that sent her over the moon. A few thrusts and he felt her digging her finger nails into his back as he walls trembled around his dick. "Oh yeah, enjoy that…Oh God, yes! Fuck!" Just as the last of her quivers serenaded his cock, he felt himself tipping over the edge as well. He suddenly realized he'd been so caught up in getting her off, that he'd neglected to pull back before his own orgasm built too far for him to stop. Moments later he was cussing and groaning, as his body released his seamen into her body. He shuddered against her as he finished inside the only girl he'd ever loved in his life. "Oh God, Gabriella! Baby! Yes! Gabi! GABI!" he screamed as his body pulsed through its release. He pressed up into her one more time as his hips convulsed within his baby. "Gabi, oh God, baby," his words came out much slower and much softer as he leaned his forehead onto her shoulder while his body began to collapse. "Jesus, Gabi…"

Gabriella smiled beneath him. She'd felt him getting off. If it hadn't been for the condom, she'd have been worried, even scared, but he's protected her just like he always did. She waited for him to begin to recover. She didn't know what to expect, so she just lied there silently.

Troy eased his body onto hers. His hips rested just a few inches below hers and his head rested on her shoulder. His arms had long since turned to jelly as his hands energy-less slid to her sides. He sighed as he rested comfortably against her smooth body. The lazy smile that now adorned his face could be felt throughout his body. He'd had sex plenty of times before, but this short session had been amazing. For some reason, knowing that he was with her now was better than any other thing in the world. He was satiated for now and he wasn't annoyed at some girl he didn't care about rambling, or Sharpay's incessant "me, me, me." No, right now he was in heaven because Gabriella, the only girl he could stand to hold a conversation with, was beneath him just as quietly reveling in their moment. Finally, he cleared his throat. "Baby, you still awake?"

She nodded her head, but said nothing. She couldn't believe how heavy her limbs felt or how drowsy she was getting, when just minutes before she felt like nothing could have put her to sleep. "Yeah," she softly whispered.

He smiled against her skin, "But not for long, huh?"

She shook her head this time. "Love you…"

He kissed her shoulder as he rose up and rolled over to her side. He moved her so that he was spooning the girl he loved. "Sleep now, baby."

She wiggled a little bit closer to his skin and curled her hands up near her face in the cutest way as she let out a little sigh.

He adjusted his body to lie comfortably with her in his arms where his head was nuzzled just up to the back of her neck. With every breath he breathed in her scent. He was peacefully slipping into a deep sleep when the door slammed open and a very drunk Chad stumbled into the room. Troy was jerking awake and grabbing the comforter on his bed as he woke. In one swift motion, he had the comforter flung over their naked bodies. Even as she let out a squeal of fright, Troy was glaring at his best friend. "WHAT THE HELL, MAN? GET THE FUCK OUT!"

Chad looked at them a little confused. "Troy? I thought—" Taylor stormed into the room, "Damn it, Chad! You were supposed to leave them alone! Come on!" She grasped his elbow. "Let's go, Chad."

Chad turned to her, "But he was supposed to end up with Gabriella up here later! He wasn't supposed to just hook up with any girl!"

Taylor just looked at him, "Shut up! Look…" She gestured to the bed where Gabriella had her face buried in Troy's neck. "That's Gabriella right there, Chad. Now, shut up and let's get out of here before your best friend kills you!" She turned back toward the door and stopped abruptly, "Did you break in the door?"

Troy rolled his eyes finally moving his lips from the side of Gabriella's head, "It was locked. Did you really think I'd leave it open for anyone to walk in on us? This is my room! God, Chad!"

To everyone's surprise, Gabriella softly asked, "Did you say that he was supposed to end up with me up here later?"

Troy turned to her with his brow furrowed. "What?" He glanced up at Taylor who was showing a fierce blush. "What is she talking about?"

Chad looked at Taylor confused, obviously drunk. "You tell them."

Taylor shook her head, and closed the door putting a chair against it. She pushed Chad into the chair and sat on his knee. "Look, I should probably tell you the whole story before you get really pissed off at either of us."

Troy just looked at them. It was Gabriella who spoke, "Why are you sitting on his lap? I thought you two hated each other?"

Taylor nodded, "Yeah, that's what we thought about the two of you…Okay, so it all started, I don't know about four months ago. You and Troy got stuck doing that assignment together and you complained to me about overhearing his bet to the guys."

Gabriella held up a hand. "Hang on. I can't do this." She sheepishly looked at Troy and whispered as quietly as she could, "I need some clothes. A shirt or something?"

Troy looked around. He found his t-shirt he'd had on under his button down. He picked it up and handed it to her. When they'd been alone and naked, he'd given her his shirt a few times. He'd even left one afternoon with her still in his shirt. He knew she still had it, but he had no idea where. He'd left that one on purpose, because it was a basketball shirt that had his name, "BOLTON," written across the back. Now, he handed her his white t-shirt and watched as she managed to put it on and look insanely adorable in it without showing any part of her body to their best friends.

She kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

He smiled at her. He collected her back into his arms and pulled her against his naked body as they adjusted both themselves and the comforter so that they now sat with his back against the bed post and her back against his chest.

She wiggled to the most comfortable position in his arms and smiled before saying, "Continue."

Taylor smiled at their friends as Chad slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her back against him. She grinned and relaxed. "Okay, here it goes…So, months ago, you two get the assignment. Then like 3 months ago, Chad and I hook up at a party. I was way too drunk to care and he was just trying to get me to say he had. But the next morning, he brought me breakfast in bed along with water and a whole bottle of Tylenol. It was sweet, so I tried being civil with him. We spent that entire day in bed. I called my parents and told them that I was staying with you for the weekend and I'd be home Monday after school. Chad and I spent that entire weekend fighting—"

"And fucking." Chad laughed from behind her as he tightened his hold on her body.

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, and making love. By the end of the weekend we decided that we needed to try being together, but we knew that you two were fighting whatever was building between you and wouldn't take kindly to our attempt and that would just make it harder on us. So, we decided to hide our thing until you two made peace."

Chad piped up again, "Then you guys fought, and then you got all lovely."

Taylor shook her head at his slurred speech again, "Yeah, I guess. So I began to notice the little stares you guys gave each other and the way Troy would linger near his locker until you left yours in the morning. Then I started seeing you two come to school together. Then I noticed that you were carrying your "journal" again. I knew there was something you couldn't tell me, so I sneaked a look." Taylor looked hesitantly at Gabriella.

Gabriella sighed, "That's it…the damn thing is going into the trash can to be burned!"

Taylor looked confused, "You're taking out your anger on a poor defenseless notebook? I thought you'd be mad at me?"

Gabriella rolled her eyes, "I'm annoyed with you, but I'll explain the notebook later. So, you figured us out months ago?"

Taylor shook her head, "Maybe a month ago. So, I told Chad during one of our weekend nights. He didn't agree with me. So, he and I got into this big huge fight and I ended up leaving in the middle of the night. Then like three days later, Chad walks up to me after school. I was at my locker after decathalon practice and he apologizes and says that he thought that Troy would tell him if something was up with you two, but that he's finally seen all the things I was talking about and that he's sure I'm right. This was after you hit the potted plant, Troy." She looked over at Troy, then back to Gabriella. "So, then he tells me that you two are having trouble, just like I'd told him and he smirks, which tells me that he has a plan. So, yesterday he tells me about the party tonight. I go over to your place and get you put back together and set things up to get you here tonight. Then he calls Troy and gets him here. So, you two avoided each other like the plague today and everyone noticed. Then we get you here and basically, the two of you took over from there." Taylor let out a loud sigh signaling that she was done.

Gabriella looked at her across the room. "Wow. So we've all been in secret relationships?"

Troy looked down at her face as he shifted her in his arms again. "When exactly did our relationship begin? Because if you'd asked me I would have said tonight?"

Gabriella smiled and looked shy again, "Well, I guess relationship isn't the right word….I don't know."

Troy gave her a gentle squeeze. "No, relationship is right, it's just that I don't know when our anniversary is and I don't want you to get pissed off at me for missing it."

She smiled shyly, "How 'bout we just make today our anniversary go from here?"

He kissed the side of her head. "Love you, babe."

"Love you too." She leaned against him again. "So, as I was saying, we've all been hiding the same things from each other?"

Taylor nodded. "Yeah, so we set you guys up and then donkey boy here goes bulldozing into your room and babbles about you two getting together."

Gabriella turned a very sweet shade of red. "Right."

Taylor smiled, "So, what now?"

Chad picked her up, "So now we go have our own fun and leave them to have some more fun and in the morning we figure things out from there. I say we make a big breakfast and hang out. But, for now, you're mine, McKessie!" He kicked the chair and marched out of the room with her in his arms.

Gabriella snuck from under the covers and in nothing but Troy's shirt grabbed the chair and closed the door again. She only hoped that no one had caught sight of her in nothing but Troy's t-shirt. She crept back over and crawled back into Troy's waiting arms. "So…"

He smiled at her teasingly, "So…"

She got shy again, "Was it—I mean was earlier—did I—was it good?"

Troy grinned as he leaned forward to her ear in order to hide his expression. "Was it good for you, baby? Did it feel good?"

She giggled at the ticklish feeling that his breath was producing. "God, yes."

He grinned wider and kissed the side of her neck. "Then you know how I feel."

She shook her head, "No, I don't, because I have nothing to compare it to and I don't want to be just another one of your escapades."

Troy laughed at how earnest she was. "You are the farthest thing from 'just another one of my escapades' baby. You are the woman I love. Why is that so hard to understand?" When she started to turn her eyes from him, he said, "Baby, the sex earlier could have been the worst I'd ever had, and it wouldn't matter, because it was sex and afterwards I was lying here satiated and holding my baby. I wasn't annoyed with some girl I couldn't stand. I was lying here in freaking heaven with the only girl I can even stand to have a conversation with now. We were comfortably cuddled up together and I would have slept for at least a few hours before I woke you up to go again. I never sleep with a girl after I've _slept_ with her. But, with you, just now, I didn't even consider not curling up around you and just resting with my baby." He smiled at the hope he could see in her eyes. "I hope you made arrangements to spend the night, because I am so not letting you go. All night, you're gonna be in bed right beside me and I'm gonna know, because I'm going to have my body against yours all night."

Gabriella melted against her boyfriend. She smiled sweetly at the thought that she was nearly naked in nothing but Troy Bolton, her boyfriend's, shirt. "You have me for as long as you want. Mom and dad don't come home until Monday night."

Troy grinned, "Then I say we pull a Chad and Taylor and just stay in bed all weekend."

Gabriella smiled, "Does that mean I get breakfast in bed in the morning?"

Troy laughed, "Sorry, baby, but I can't cook to save my life. Chad only can because he eats so damn much and he'd be broke if he didn't learn to fix his own food."

Gabriella's smile washed over her whole face. "Then we may need to go down stairs in the morning and hang out with Chad."

Troy pretended to pout. "But, only until we've had good food, then we can come back to bed, deal?"

She nodded, "Deal. Now, kiss me, Wildcat."

Troy smirked, "Your wish is my command, baby. Anything else you'd like me to do to your body?" He pressed a kiss to her lips.

"Make love to me, again."

Troy smiled, "Gladly."

"Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Ms. Darbus gave us an A for our project."

Troy laughed, "I completely forgot about that thing."

She smiled and reached up, "I love you."

"I love you too, baby."


End file.
